Girl On Fire
by rusher13101
Summary: Everybody stands, as she goes by cause they can see the flame that's in her eyes. Watch her when she's lighting up the night. Nobody knows that she's a lonely girl and it's a lonely world. slightly AU full summary inside! this is my first story please R&R :D Kendall/OC rated for language!
1. Something's Coming

**A/N: ok, so this is my first fanfiction. I love Big Time Rush and I have been reading their fanfic for a while but it wasn't until now that I decided to try a story. this story is based on one of my favorite stories written by Lonelygrl91 :) and she was awesome enough to let me base it on her story. Is not really a crossover but it mentions my other obsession (Criminal Minds).**

**Summary: Cadence is a girl with somewhat of a troubled past. When she's released from prison she is sent to Minnesota to live with the Knights. So what would happen when a certain blonde tries to convince her she's not as bad as she thinks she is changing the lives of the four teenagers in the process? Even if her past keeps hunting her from time to time. AU**

**Disclaimer: I don't know BTR, Criminal Minds or anything here just my OC. :)**

* * *

Cadence Thomsen looked outside the window to the town that was about to become her home for at least the next year.

"Minnesota? Really Morgan? Shakopee, Minnesota? You pulled me out of Chicago to come here? I didn't even know this town existed!" she said annoyed turning to look back at Detective Morgan.

"Come on Cadence, you're gonna like it here" he said smiling at her. "The Knights are a really nice family. This place will do you good."

"Wait, is it Night as in day and night? Or Knight as in shining armor?"

"As in shining armor" he said with a little chuckle.

"How do you even know these people?"

"Kevin and I have been friends since kinder garden" he told her. "We graduated together and we always kept in touch."

"That's a very interesting love story" Cadence said sarcastically looking out the window again.

"Come on Cadence, this is a quiet place where you can stay out of trouble. Kevin and Jennifer have two kids. I think the oldest one is around your age by now."

"Wohoo" Cadence said without any emotion in her voice.

"Look, in a year, when you turn eighteen, you can be out of here and do whatever you want, but until then is my responsibility to know that you're safe, and you'll be safe with the Knights" he said finally pulling over at a house. "Just, give it a try, ok?"

Cadence looked at the house while she stepped down from the car and she grabbed her bag. It was a pretty big house compared to where she grew up in but it still looked cozy. It had beautiful gardens and flowers everywhere with even a bench-swing on the front porch. Yes, it was everything she wasn't used to, and already… she hated it.

"This looks like somewhere Reid grew up in" she muttered while Agent Morgan came towards her with the rest of her stuff.

"Hey, you like Dr. Reid" he said taking his sunglasses off.

"Duh, he's the only one nice to me" she said while he messed her hair. "Hey!" she said pulling away.

"Come on" he said as they both walked to the front door and once there, he rang the doorbell. "Just… be nice ok?" he begged/warned her.

"Oh, I'm always nice" Cadence said with a sweet smirk. She turned to look at the door when it opened. She saw a girl, about ten years old, long, brown hair and big brown eyes.

"MOM, DAD! The convict is here!" she yelled inside the house.

"Sweet kid" Cadence said arching her eyebrow at Detective Morgan.

"Hey Katie, don't you remember me?" he asked the little girl who looked at him confused.

"No" she simply said and Cadence snorted a little too loud.

"I'm a friend of your parents. I must've seen you last when you were about three years old" he said smiling at her.

"Oh" the girl simply said. "MOOOOM! DAAAAAD! You're friend that is friends with the convict is here too!" she yelled running up the stairs and then Cadence saw a blonde, tall man with his eyes same as the little girl coming down the stairs.

"Morgan!" he said excited walking over to Detective Morgan to give him a hug.

"Knight!" he said returning the hug, and then out of nowhere, they did some secret handshake Cadence assumed they invented in like first grade. They started laughing and turned to look at her. "We made that up in third grade" he told her.

"Lovely" Cadence said without any emotion.

"You must be Cadence" Mr. Knight said walking over to her. "I'm Kevin Knight. You can call me Kevin" he said putting out his hand for her to shake. Cadence looked at his hand and then at Detective Morgan, who was giving her a warning look.

"Um, yeah I'm Cadence" she said shaking his hand. "Uh thanks for taking me in I guess" she said looking at the floor.

"Oh, no thanks needed, we're family now, come here" he said and before Cadence knew what was happening he was hugging her. She just stood there awkwardly not really knowing what to do while Detective Morgan tried not to laugh.

"Um, ok" she said when he pulled away. She just held on to her bag instead.

"Oh my God Derek!" Cadence saw a really beautiful woman walking down the stairs with the girl from earlier. She had long brown her like the little girl but she had green eyes. "It's been so long!" she said walking towards Detective Morgan and giving him a huge hug.

"I know Jennifer" Detective Morgan said hugging her. "Your kids are all grown up now, this one didn't even remember me" he said looking at the little girl.

"You must be Cadence" Mrs. Knight turned to look at the girl standing in the room and going there to hug her. Same thing happened with the confused girl who had no idea what to do so she just stood there. "I'm Mrs. Knight, you can call me Jennifer" she said smiling kindly. "My, you're so pretty" she said taking a look at the girl.

"Um, thanks?" Cadence told her not really believing it.

"This is Katie" she said grabbing the girl from earlier. "Who is not gonna call you a convict anymore" she said more to Katie than to Cadence.

"Sorry" Katie said rolling her eyes.

"It's ok" Cadence said letting out a little laugh. _I've been called worse._

"You must be hungry" Mrs. Knight said walking into the kitchen. "Dinner will be ready in about ten minutes, and yes Derek, you're staying for dinner. Katie sweetie, why don't you show Cadence her room so she can settle in before dinner" she told them.

"Follow me" Katie told her. Cadence turned to look at Detective Morgan who nodded so she grabbed the rest of her stuff and walked after the little girl. "Ok this is my room... don't go in there, _never_ go in there ok?" she said turning her threatening look sweet at the end of the sentence.

"O…k?" Cadence said with an arched eyebrow.

"Straight at the end of the hall is mom and dad's room. Your room is on the right, next to their door, that way you can't sneak out without them knowing."

"Well, shit" Cadence muttered under her breath and Katie turned to look at her. "Oh, um sorry, uh pretend I didn't say that."

"Oh, please, I've heard worse from my brother and his stupid friends" she said shrugging her shoulders.

"Your brother?" she asked confused. When Detective Morgan said there was a kid around her age, she assumed it was a girl.

"Yeah, he's bedroom is across from yours" she showed her as they reached her door. "Well, here you go, see you downstairs" she said before disappearing down the hall.

Cadence slowly opened the door and saw a light yellow and white bedroom. The bed was on the side with a nightstand and a little armchair on the corner with some stuffed animals on it.

"Ugh" was her only thought when she noticed the rug with flowers on it. She simply threw her bag on the chair and plopped herself on the bed burying her head in the pillow before letting out a loud scream. "How the fuck did I end up here?!"

"Cadence! Dinner!" she heard Katie's voice from downstairs. She managed to get up and walked down the stairs to see everyone already seated in the dinning room.

"You can take a seat next to Derek" Mrs. Knight said and Cadence didn't question it. "That's usually where Kendall seats but he said he was gonna be late tonight" she said smiling kindly.

"So, Cadence, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself" Mr. Knight said smiling at the girl.

"Did you see a dead body while you were in prison?" Katie asked a little excited.

"Katie!" Mrs. Knight said widening her eyes at the girl.

"Yeah!" Cadence said smirking at her.

"Cadence!" Detective Morgan said glaring at her a little.

"I um, actually meant something more like what do you do on your spare time, do you have any hobbies?" Mr. Knight asked trying to release the tension.

"No, not really" Cadence said looking at her food. It was kind of true, ever since she was locked up, is not like she continued with her hobbies. She used to have a lot of them. But not anymore.

"Actually she really likes to sing" Detective Morgan said eyeing the girl.

"Well, I think the school has an music class you could sign for" Mrs. Knight said excited causing Cadence to choke on her food a little.

"SCHOOL?!" she asked looking at Detective Morgan.

"Um, yes, you start tomorrow" Mrs. Knight said politely. "Don't worry we talked to all your teachers so they're familiar with your… um, case" she said still trying to be kind.

Cadence really wanted to scream, but something just made her swallow that scream. Well, someone. She looked at Katie who was looking at her confused. She reminded her of herself. She was about her age when everything started going wrong in her life. That's why she couldn't let her go through the same thing. That, and the fact that Detective Morgan told her it was either this, or back to jail for another year. So instead, she just nodded lightly and looked at Mrs. Knight.

"Um, thanks" she said forcing a smile.

"Don't be nervous, you're gonna be with Kendall" she said with a sweet smile.

"Great" Cadence said with what felt like the fakest smile ever. "Um, can I be excused?" she asked pushing her chair back.

"Ahem" she heard coming from the side.

"Sorry, _may_ I be excused?" she said rolling her eyes a little. "I need to use the bathroom" she said flashing Detective Morgan a fake smile.

"Oh, sure" Mrs. Knight said. "The bathroom is down the hall to the left" she indicated.

"Thanks" Cadence said standing up. Once she was out of the room, Detective Morgan stood up.

"Come on, Derek" Mr. Knight said laughing a little. "She's not gonna do anything" he said knowing his friend thought she was gonna run away.

"I probably should've warned you before, but you have no idea what you got yourself into" he said before following the girl and standing outside the bathroom. He stood there for a few minutes before she came out.

"AH!" Cadence yelled jumping a little. "What the hell Morgan!? Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

"Can't take my chances kid" he said as he started walking back.

"First, there's no window in there" she said annoyed following him. "And second, with you here? Yeah, as if you couldn't catch up with me" she said crossing her arms across her chest while Detective Morgan returned to his place.

"Um, may I be excused? I have some homework I need to finish" Katie said sweetly once she was done.

"Sure honey, I'll be up later to check on it" she said as the little girl stood up.

"Good luck" she whispered to Cadence as she walked passed her.

"Ok, um, Cadence, now that Katie is gone maybe is time we go over some rules" Mr. Knight started.

"MOM! I'm home!" they all turned around when the door opened. "And James is with me!"

Cadence saw two guys walking in. One of them was really tall, with brown, kind of long hair; brown eyes and what seemed like the perfect smile. The other boy wasn't as tall, but still a lot taller than her, she could see his blonde hair slipping out of his beanie, but he was facing the other way dropping his things so she couldn't look at his face. They were both dressed as if they just came out of a photo shoot. She assumed the blonde one was Kendall.

"Well, hello there" the tall brown haired boy said smiling at Cadence.

"James, Kendall, this is Cadence Thomsen" Mr. Knight told the boys. Kendall turned around to face the family and Cadence was a little taken aback by him a little. He had Mrs. Knights' eyes and she just looked at him staring at her.

Kendall saw a girl standing in front of him. She had dark black, wavy, messy, really long hair and really big, chocolate brown eyes. She was wearing a long loose white blouse with a blue scarf, a leather jacket and leggings with worn out boots. There is no way this is the girl his parents said was gonna live with them. They told him a criminal was going to live there, someone that had been in jail for about a year. Yeah, she looked tough, but not like someone who could take prison.

"Hi" Kendall said smirking at her. Cadence simply rolled her eyes.

"Hi" she said before returning to her seat next to Detective Morgan.

"Come and join us boys" Mrs. Knight said pointing at two empty places on the table.

"Thanks Mrs. K" James said sitting down quickly and helping himself. Cadence simply assumed it was something that happened often. All of the sudden, Detective Morgan's pager started going off. He took it out and looked at the message.

"Well, that does it for me" he said sighting. Cadence paled for a minute.

"No! You have to go?" Mrs. Knight said sadly as he got up and put on his jacket.

"Afraid so, the team needs me" he said as he started to say goodbye to James, Kendall and Mrs. Knight who handed him a plastic bag with a piece of pie. "Ow, you remembered" he said excited.

"I knew you were taking it for the road though" she said laughing a little while Mr. Knight stood up to walk him to the door. Cadence just seemed to be spaced out.

"I'll be coming every month to check on her" he told Mr. Knight. "She's a good girl, she just needs someone to show her that there are still good people in the world" he said a little worried.

"We're gonna be fine" Mr. Knight told him. They said goodbye and Detective Morgan walked out the door. That's when Cadence snapped back to reality.

"WAIT!" she said standing up and running behind him. She passed Mr. Knight, opened the door and ran outside. "MORGAN!" he turned around to face her and she ran over to him. "You can't be serious!"

"Cadence-"

"You're leaving me here? You're really leaving me here with these people I don't know!?"

"Cadence, I've known the Knights for years, they're good people-" he tried to reason with her.

"I don't care! How do you expect me to settle in here! Is nothing like me!"

"Look, you either take the foster home, or you're back in jail for another year-"

"I'll take prison for 200, Morgan."

"Cadence, don't be ridiculous! The Knights are good people and they care about-"

"You don't need to lie to me! Just take me back!"

"I'm not taking you back" he said softly putting his hands on her arms. "Look, kid, I believe in you. I know you're better than this ok, what happened to you was a misunderstanding. You're _not_ a bad person Cadence and you have to start believing that. If you stay here, I know you're gonna grow up to become an amazing woman, if you go back to jail, you're gonna lose yourself" he said honestly. Cadence wasn't sure if she wanted to believe him or not. Is not like anyone believed in her before, why would he? "You're gonna be fine. You have my number if you need anything and I'll be sure to come visit you every once in a while, ok?"

"Just, bring Reid when you do" she said wiping away a tear before he could see it. But he did.

He smiled at her. "Ok, I'll bring him" he said with a little chuckle. "Take care kid" he said walking away, but he turned around again. "Oh, by the way" he said smirking a little. "Happy birthday!"

* * *

**A/N: So, that was chapter 1 is a little short but I already have chapter 2 and I'll post it sometime tomorrow :) I really hope you liked it! if you did, please let me know what you think! haha thank you all again for reading and I hope you like it! :)**


	2. Bad Reputation

**A/N: thank you SO much for everyone who liked this story :) I hope I keep doing a good job :D here's chapter 2! **

**special thanks to Lonelygrl91, suckerforlovestory and IamRusherB for reviewing! you guys rock! **

******Disclaimer: I don't know BTR, Criminal Minds or anything here just my OC. :)**

* * *

"Is everything alright Cadence?" Mr. Knight asked when the girl entered the house again.

"Uh, yeah" Cadence said still trying to be polite and she went to sit back to her place.

"So, um Cadence, I think is important to go over some rules" Mr. Knight said to her sitting back on his place. Cadence simply nodded and went back to playing with her food. "The rules are pretty simple, ones that most families have, but since most of the kids in foster care aren't from normal families I'm going to explain them simply ok?"

Cadence rolled her eyes but nodded anyway. _'Great, I'm going to be treated like an idiot.'_ Turning back to Mr. Knight, she listened as he listed the rules.

"Uh, ok, rule number one, you are to be home be midnight every night, unless, you are with someone we fully trust-"

"Meaning me" Kendall said all of the sudden.

"Or me" James said winking at Cadence. She wrinkled her eyebrows looking at them and rolled her eyes again.

"And you have to call in and tell us why you are late, how late you will be and where you are. We are pretty understanding if you're with a friend we trust and their car breaks down or something. If we find out you're lying however, you will not be allowed out of the house minus school, for three weeks, and trust me, we have our ways."

_Ok, maybe Morgan tricked me, this is gonna be worse than prison._

Cadence simply nodded along and let out a sad sight. "Rule number two, no smoking, no drinking, no boys in your room, and no drugs, simple enough?"

"Yeah" Cadence said thinking she had to hide her cigarettes.

"And finally rule number three, you don't have to have a job, we really want you to focus on school, but you have to help around the house understood?"

Cadence nodded as she finished her food. "So, um would you guys mind doing the dishes? I have to help Katie with her homework" Mrs. Knight said putting all the plates together.

"Sure mom" Kendall said grabbing them.

"We'll take care of it Mrs. K" James said finishing his food. Cadence stood up, grabbed some plates and walked over to the kitchen, immediately followed by the to boys. "So, where does a beauty like you come from?" James asked smirking walking over to her and resting on the counter.

"Jail" Cadence said smirking back at him and James' smirk faded a little. "Anything else?"

"Uhh, feisty" James said with his smirk getting back on. "I like that!"

"Look, Prince Charming, I'm saying this nicely, back away" she said as she started cleaning the dishes. Kendall let out a loud snort. Is not everyday that James gets turned down.

"Well, this Prince Charming might need a Cinderella" he said still not giving up.

"Oh, please! Everyone knows Prince Charming is gay" Cadence said laughing and brushing the smile off James' face.

"Damn dude, she burned you!" Kendall said still laughing.

"Oh no, hipster, no" Cadence said turning to Kendall. "Do not think we are on the same team. We have nothing in common. I wear knit hats when it's cold out, you wear knit hats because of Coldplay."

"Come on, I was just joking babe-" Kendall said still laughing.

"Yeah, um, no. I'm not going to acknowledge that as reference to me. I'm not your babe, that's misogynous and demeaning" she said offended.

"Ok, I don't even know what half of those words meant" James told her.

"It means" she said before he could go on. "It's a way of not having to remember a girl's name, _babe_" she said annoyed.

"See? Now we're getting somewhere" James said with a cocky smirk.

"No, you're not really getting anywhere" Cadence said rolling her eyes and turning back to grab a dish and she started drying it.

"Look, Cadence-" Kendal said simply walking over to her and he placing one hand on Cadence's back but she immediately flinched away from him causing her to drop the plate she was holding.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" she yelled at the blonde boy who was looking at her with a shocked face. James had the same expression. Suddenly, Cadence started to have trouble breathing. "Oh my God!"

"Guys what's all that noise-?" Mr. Knight said stepping into the kitchen. "Cadence!?" he said worried looking at the girl who was standing in the corner having a panic attack and the two boys were frozen not knowing what to do. "Kendall! Go get your mother!" Kendall and James didn't even think of hesitating and ran out of the kitchen. "Cadence! Cadence, can you hear me?" Mr. Knight said walking over to the girl who just kept on trying to breathe.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry" Cadence started whispering while she looked at the broken plate on the floor. "I broke it! I'm so sorry!"

"What did you break?" Mr. Knight asked confused and then he turned to look at what she was looking. "The plate? Cadence, it's ok-"

"What happened?" Mrs. Knight said running into the kitchen.

"She broke a plate and started having a panic attack" Mr. Knight told her. Mrs. Knight took over and Mr. Knight thought it was best to call Detective Morgan, just in case.

"Cadence" Mrs. Knight said in a sweet tone. "Cadence honey look at me" she said in a motherly tone. The panicked girl turned to look at her. "Honey, it's ok, it was just a plate" she said smiling kindly at her.

"I'm sorry" she said still panicking a little. "I'm so sorry!"

"It's ok honey. It was an accident, no harm done" Mrs. Knight told her softly. Cadence's breathing had returned to normal and she even managed to smile a little bit. "Would you help me clean up?" she said still in the same kind tone. Cadence nodded standing up while Mrs. Knight went to get the broom.

"Cadence" Mr. Knight said softly walking back into the kitchen. The girl turned to look at him and even if she looked confident and even a little tough, he could see fear in her eyes. "I'm not going to hurt you Cadence, what happened was an accident, ok?" he said in a soft way, not wanting to scare the girl any more than she already was. "Something important that you need to know is that we will never hit you Cadence. We ground, we take away privileges, and we are gonna treat you just the same as Kendall and Katie, but we _never_ under any circumstances hit our kids, you're our family now, we will treat you as if you always have been one, and family doesn't hurt each other, ok?" Cadence nodded shyly putting her hair behind her ear and then placing her arms around her as if to protect herself. "Now, you must be tired, why don't you go get some sleep. You have a big day tomorrow. I'll help Jennifer here" he said with a kind smile.

Cadence nodded again and simply walked towards the kitchen door. She turned around before to look at Mr. and Mrs. Knight. "Um, th-thank you" she said shyly trying to smile.

"You're welcome kid" Mr. Knight said while Mrs. Knight smiled at her.

"Good night Cadence" she said sweetly at the girl.

"Good night" she said before walking out of the kitchen and walking to her room.

"Hey" she heard as soon as she reached her door. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you" Kendall said when he saw the girl jumped a little at the sound of his voice. Cadence looked at him a little shocked. No one had ever apologized to her before. "Now, and earlier… in the kitchen" he said a little awkward. "Are you ok?"

"Um, yeah" Cadence said trying to sound normal. "Don't worry about it" she said trying to walk back into her room.

"Hey, um, look I just um, I don't know if you um want to t-talk or something-" Kendal started saying a little nervous. Cadence just stared at him. She couldn't quite figure out how she felt about him. Maybe Morgan was right. Maybe this was a nice family and they all really wanted to help her.

"Dude, I can't find anything about her, she doesn't even have a Facebook page! Are you sure she was in jail?" James asked coming out of Kendall's room with his laptop in his hand. So yes, _maybe_ was the key word for Cadence. Maybe they were just like everyone else who had hurt her or left her or not even care about her. Maybe there was just no way for her to ever have a home again.

"Assholes" she simply muttered before going inside her bedroom.

"No, Cadence, wait! We weren't-" Kendal started before Cadence slammed her door in his face. He turned to look at James and hit him on the back of the head. "Idiot" he said before walking inside his room with him following.

"What did I do?"

* * *

The next day, Kendall walked down the stairs almost ten minutes before he had to leave for school. He found his mom, his sister and Cadence all eating in the kitchen counter.

"Good morning" Mrs. Knight said. "Hurry up or you gonna be late for school" she said handing him a plate with eggs and bacon.

He saw Katie had the same in hers, only it was almost empty, but Cadence only had cereal in hers. After they all finished Mrs. Knight was driving Katie to school, so that only left Cadence waiting for Kendall to finish getting ready to go to school.

"Ugh, finally princess" she said rolling her eyes once he came down the stairs again. She got up and started walking towards the door.

"Um, Cadence" Kendall said kind of nervous. She sighted and turned around to look at him. "Look, I'm sorry about-"

"Don't worry about it" she simply said turning around.

"Look, we were just trying to-"

"To what? Figure out why I was in jail?" she said a little harsh. Kendall opened his mouth to say something but closed it again. "Didn't your parents tell you? Didn't they _warn_ you to not be alone with me?" she started teasing him. She knew it was working cause she saw Kendall tense up a little. "You see, Kendall, if I were you" she said walking over to him. "I wouldn't want to make me angry" she said whispering not letting herself being intimidated by the taller boy. "I mean, you never know when a criminal might just…" she said getting even closer while Kendall looked at her nervously not even moving. "SNAP!" she yelled at his face making him jump backwards a little, almost falling and she started laughing hysterically. "Dude, you're so easy!" she said between laughs turning around and walking towards the door.

"Hey! That wasn't funny!" Kendall complained walking after her.

"Oh yes, yes it was. You should've seen your face" she said still laughing. "Sweet ride" she said looking over at his car.

"Thanks" Kendall said a little confused. Had no idea what this girl was about.

"Can I smoke in it?"

"What? No! Then is gonna smell like cigarette!"

"Ugh! Come on! I'll put it out the window and then spray my perfume so it won't smell" Cadence whined.

"No smoking in my car!" Kendall said walking over to her and opening the door for her. Cadence looked at him as if he was crazy.

"Wow, a gentleman" she said somewhat impressed. "Um, thanks I guess" she said getting in. Kendall closed the door and then walked over to the other side and got in only to see Cadence trying to light up a cigarette.

"Hey! I told you, no smoking in my car!" he said taking the cigarette away from her and throwing it out the window.

"You know, Kendall? That's a good way to loose a hand" she said in an annoyed tone. Kendall ignored her and started the car.

"Why do you even smoke?"

"Why do you even care?" she said in a mocking tone.

"Is not… you know, is not good for you" Kendal simply said and Cadence let out a loud laugh.

"Oh honey, there is _so much_ in my life that is not good for me" she said looking out the window. "You worry too much, did you know that?"

"Excuse me?" Kendall said with a little chuckle. "How would you even know that? You don't even know me" he said a little offended.

"Maybe I did some internet research too" she said with a mocking smirk and saw Kendall blush a little bit. The rest of the ride was in a kind of awkward silence, just the radio playing. They arrived at the parking lot and Cadence took a look at her new school. "So, this is my new prison?" she asked with a little chuckle looking at Kendall, who didn't really laugh. "Oh, come on Blondie! Loosen up a little!" she said laughing and walking out of the car, Kendall quickly following.

"Well, hello there my princess" James said coming out of nowhere. Cadence simply rolled her eyes.

"Ugh, bite me" she said getting her cigarettes out again.

"Trust me, I would love to" James said smirking and winking at her.

"You're nauseating" Cadence said walking past him and lighting her cigarette.

"Hey, are you nuts!?" Kendall said walking towards her.

"Maybe" Cadence said smirking at him.

"Put that out! You're gonna get in trouble!"

"Why do you even care Blondie? Just go with Prince Charming already, don't worry about me ok? I promise I'm not gonna run away and is still like fifteen minutes before class you nerd" she said walking away from the boys.

"Dude, I still can't believe she lives in your house" James said looking at the girl walking away from them.

"Shut up!" Kendall said annoyed as he started to walk to school.

Cadence sat by a tree with her iPod on while she smoked and she stared at the people by the entrance. Yes, typical high school. You got your freshmen, your jocks and your cheerleaders, the nerds, girls who eat their feelings, girls who don't eat anything, desperate wannabes, burnouts skaters and yes… the plastics. And yes, that's where Kendal and James were headed_._ She simply rolled her eyes as she finished her cigarette and sprayed perfume all over her. Yes, she liked to smoke but that doesn't mean she liked the smell. She started walking towards the school's entrance and watch as everyone gave her a stare down. _One year, you just have to pull up with this shit for one year._ She thought as she made her way to her locker according to Kendal's directions. She put some of her books in her locker and looked at her schedule. She sighted and started walking towards her class. She walked inside to see the girls gossiping in a corner, some guys throwing paper planes and balls and everything, a boy studying in the front seat, some boys checking out some girls, she just decided to walk to the back of the class ignoring everyone staring at her, and not paying attention to the girls clearly talking about her. She sat down, put on her glasses and started reading the book Dr. Reid gave her for her birthday, _Empty Planet._ He read when he was apparently six; he said she might enjoy it. She really liked to read. It was something no one really noticed about her, except Dr. Reid. He somehow did. She figured it was because he basically psychoanalyzed everything she did, but she didn't mind. He was the only one who never treated her like a criminal.

"Well, if this isn't fate, I don't know what is" she was suddenly interrupted by James' voice when he sat next to her.

"This isn't fate Prince Charming, is homeroom class… is even stupider" she said returning to her book. James was about to say something else, but the bell rang and the teacher came inside the room.

"Good morning children" she said walking over to her desk and leaving her stuff there. "Today we have a new student with us" she said turning to face the class.

"Shit" James heard Cadence mutter under her breath.

"Cadence Thomsen?" she said looking through faces. Cadence saw everyone turning their faces at her. "Well there you are" she said with a fake smile at her. "Miss Thomsen, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself?"

"Um, no thanks" Cadence said with a slight smile hearing James' snort next to her. Maybe he wasn't that bad.

"Excuse me?" the teacher said a little confused. Cadence could totally see through her. All through her fake smile. Cadence sighted rolling her eyes. She took off her glasses and stood up.

"My name is Cadence, I'm seventeen years old and I'm from Chicago" she said without any emotion before she sat back down and started reading her book again.

"Um, oh ok" the teacher said still a little confused. "Well, um welcome, I'm gonna be your teacher Miss Harris, now let's pick up where we left off yesterday" she said starting to teach the class.

"Really? Is that all you want us to know about you?" James asked holding back at smile.

"Hun, if it were up to me, you wouldn't even know my name" she said smirking back at him.

* * *

The rest of the day went by very quickly. By the time lunch came, Cadence pretty much had the school figured out. Same thing in every single high school. She was walking outside for lunch when she saw a bunch of jocks pushing the nerd guy from her class against some lockers.

"Watch where you're going geek" one of them yelled before they left laughing. Cadence arched her eyebrow at them leaving and then turned to look at the poor guy on the floor looking at his books. She walked over to him, picking a book on the way and handed it to him.

"Here" she said offering a nice smile.

"Um, thanks" he said shyly grabbing the book from her hands and quickly gathering the other ones before standing up.

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah, yeah, thanks" he said somehow nervous before he started to walk away from her.

"Um, you're welcome" Cadence said confused looking at the direction where the guy left.

She shrugged it off and continued her way outside. She saw an empty table and decided to sit there with her iPod on and her book in her hands. She grabbed the bag Mrs. Knight had given her for lunch. She couldn't remember the last time someone made lunch for her. She took out an apple and returned to her book until she felt someone sitting on each side of her. She looked up only to find the only two familiar faces in the entire school.

"Well, if it isn't Tweedledee and Tweedledum" she said turning to her book again.

"Hey! What happened to Prince Charming?" James asked pouting making Cadence let out a little laugh.

"So, you call me a hipster and you wear hipster glasses?" Kendall asked her mocking her big black glasses.

"Um, they're not hipster glasses if they were the only ones you could afford after you broke the last ones and worn glasses for over five years and you use them only when you read" she said smiling at him.

"So, how's your first day going?" Kendall asked her with a little laugh.

"Fine" she said taking a bite of her apple.

"Just fine?"

"Look, Kendall, you don't have to take care of me ok?" she said turning to look at the blonde guy. "I know maybe your mom told you to like, you know be nice to me and everything, but really you can go seat with your Barbie friends over there" she said pointing at the group of girls she saw him with this morning. And yes, they were all kind of glaring at her.

"You're more than welcome to sit with us" James said winking at her. "The guys won't mind and Jo and the Jennifers are pretty cool" he told her.

"I think I'll pass" she said closing her book and standing up.

"Hey, look" Kendall said catching up to her. "Cadence, we're just trying to be nice" he said with a smile. Cadence sighted sadly.

"Look, I know you are but I don't really have an interest of going to your popular table so everyone can frown upon me and act as if it was normal. You think I don't know everyone in here knows who I am Kendall? I bet by now they all looked on the Internet about it just like you guys did."

"We were just trying to-"

"I don't care what you were trying to do" she said annoyed. "Point is, I see the way everyone looks at me ok? So is fine, trust me I've survived worse. I can take care of myself. I've been doing it for a long time now Blondie, so go with your friends Josie and the Pussycats or whatever" she said walking past them.

"Excuse me gorgeous, are you lost? I believe heaven is a long way from here" Cadence held her laugh as she turned around to see the group of jocks that pushed that other kid earlier. She saw a Latino guy standing right in front of her.

"Really? That's the best that you have?" Cadence asked annoyed.

"I don't think you can handle what I have" the boy said smirking.

"Wow, someone thinks pretty big of themselves" she said arching an eyebrow at him.

"Like that, hot stuff?" he asked cocky.

"Way too much for you to handle sporto" she said rolling her eyes.

"It's Carlos" he said still smiling.

"Whatever" she said turning around and starting to leave but she felt someone grabbing her wrist.

"Hey, I'm not done with you babe" he said turning her around.

"Ok, I'm gonna try to be nice here for a second" she said threateningly at him. "See here's what's gonna go down. Two choices, you don't get off and I crack one of your nuts, right or left that's your choice. Or you let go of my wrist and I let you walk away and you live to be a douchebag another day" Carlos simply laughed.

"You're pretty hot when you're mad babe" he whispered.

Before he knew what was happening, Cadence had turned her arm around, grabbing Carlos' wrist instead, her arm shooting out to grab his throat and surprisingly to everyone she pushed him against the wall. Carlos was too shocked to even move.

"Listen to me sporto because I'm only gonna say this once" Cadence said furiously staring directly into Carlos' eyes. "If you ever touch me again, I'm gonna make sure, not only that you don't reproduce, and believe me I would be doing the world a favor, but I guarantee you, you won't even be able to get a hard on" she said with venom in her voice as she let go of Carlos' throat. "And also I have razorblades in my hair. Mhm, tons, all up in there" she said as she started to walk away from him. She turned around one more time to see the whole team in complete shock. "And don't call me babe" she said before walking away, not even noticing how many people were looking at her with the same shocked look on Carlos' face.

* * *

"Hey, are you ok?" she heard Kendall sitting next to her in the next class.

"Me?" she asked a little confused as she grabbed her PB&J sandwich and had a bite.

"Yeah, I saw what happened with the jocks earlier. Did they hurt you?" he asked really concerned. Cadence gave him the most confused look she had.

"Um, no. But I was this close to leave that sporto childless" she said with a little chuckle. "Told you I could take care of myself" she said proudly.

"Cadence you just, you should be careful" Kendall said a little worried. "Those guys are real jerks" he said glaring at some jocks at their class.

"Oh, don't worry. I can handle them Kenny" she said pinching his cheek.

"Is everything a joke to you?" he asked a little upset.

"Um, yeah, pretty much" she said taking another bite of her sandwich.

"You can't eat in class. Why didn't you eat at lunch?"

"Well, I assumed it would be worse to smoke in class, so-"

"You smoked _again_?"

"Relax Blondie, it was just one" she said rolling her eyes. "Seriously you worry too much. By the way, I think your girlfriend is trying to kill me with her eyes" she said pointing past him. Kendall turned around and saw Jo glaring at them.

"She's not my girlfriend" he said a little too harsh.

"Oh" she said turning to look at Kendall. "Did I touch a nerve there?" she said smirking but she stopped when she saw Kendall's furious face. "Um, ok sorry" she said looking down. "What happened?"

"I'd rather not talk about it" he said looking down. Cadence turned to look at the girl, still glaring at her and then at Kendall and she sighted.

"Is her loss if you ask me" she said turning to look at her book. Kendall turned to look up at her a little confused. He really had no idea what this girl was about.

"Um, th-thanks" he said unsure.

"Ok, don't go doodling my name on y our notebooks just because I was nice once" she said still looking at her book and Kendall let out a small laugh.

"So, um, what are you reading?"

"Empty Planet" she said turning the page. "Is about a world being negatively taken over by technology" she told him.

"Wait, like, how?" Kendall asked. Cadence simply looked up from her book and nodded her head towards the rest of the class. Kendall looked at everyone hooked on their phones, iPods, computers, etc. "Oh" he simply said looking back at Cadence.

"So, does this class have a teacher or do they basically expect us to teach ourselves?" she asked him taking another bite from her sandwich.

"Oh, yeah, Mr. Anderson is like always sick. I don't know how he still works here" he said making Cadence laugh a little.

"Would you like some?" she asked splitting what was left of her sandwich in two and handing one piece to Kendall.

"Hey, you're the new girl, aren't you?" Cadence turned to look at the girl that had been glaring at her for the past minutes standing right in front of them with the fakest smile she had ever seen on someone. She saw Kendall's look turned upset.

"Can I help you with anything?" Cadence asked bored.

"Well, I just wanted to be sure to know the one that I needed to stay away from" she said still with the fake smile on.

"Jo-" Kendall started but was interrupted by Cadence standing up and facing the blonde girl.

"What are you trying to say Barbie?" she said in a serious tone.

"Well, you're the criminal, aren't you?" Jo simply said. "The one that just got out of jail?"

"Jo!" Kendall said getting up.

"Impressive" Cadence said with a sarcastic look on her face. "Is this how you feel better about yourself?" she said smirking and saw Jo's look change. "I wouldn't dare me if I were you. I can destroy you. I know exactly what you are" she said threateningly.

"At least I'm not the crazy person who just comes in here acting as if everything was normal. Everyone knows who you are. Stop trying to hide it" Jo said trying to act as tough as Cadence. Cadence just let out a sarcastic laugh.

"You see, that's the beauty of it all" she said in a quiet voice. "No one has a fucking clue what I'm hiding" Cadence grabbed her bag and started to walk out of the class.

"Cadence!" Kendall yelled after her but she ignored him. "Jo, what the hell is your problem?" he turned to look furious at the blonde girl.

"My problem? You're the one hanging out with the criminal-"

"Stop calling her that! She's not a criminal-"

"How would you know? She comes out of nowhere, she doesn't talk to anyone-"

"That's because everyone in here looks at her as if she was a criminal!"

"Well, duh! Everyone knows who she is! Excuse me for being worried about her being around my boyfriend-"

"_Ex-_boyfriend" Kendall said coldly before grabbing his things and walking in the direction Cadence went.

"Going somewhere Mr. Knight?" Mr. Anderson said appearing at the door out of nowhere. Just his luck.

"N-no sir, just was gonna let the principal know you weren't here" he said thinking as fast as he could.

"Well, I'm here now, so you can take a seat" he said walking inside the class. Kendall sighted desperately and went back to seat next to the now empty seat. "Sorry I'm late, let's start" Mr. Anderson said walking to the front of the class.

Kendall hoped to see Cadence in any of the other classes they had together. But by the end of the day, there was no sign of her. That's when he got worried. What if she ran away? What was he supposed to tell his mother if he couldn't find her?

"JAMES!" he said running towards his friend. "Have you seen Cadence?"

"Don't you tell me you lost my princess" James said with a smile.

"I'm not joking! She had an argument with Jo and she left the class and I haven't seen her!"

"Wait, your ex, Jo? Was it hot?"

"JAMES! Focus!" Kendall said frustrated.

"Well, maybe she's outside smoking" James said rolling his eyes.

"Oh my God! That's it! James you're a genius!"

"I know" James said proudly. "Wait, why?"

Kendal didn't answer, he just started running outside. He looked everywhere near the school, but he still didn't see her. Great. He lost her.

"Shit! I'm dead man! What am I gonna tell my mom?" he asked James who was also looking for her.

"Do you think it'll be worse than when we lost Katie at the park?"

"Um, I think so because we found Katie in the swings!" Kendall yelled in an obvious tone as they were making their way to the parking lot. And then, he saw her. There she was sitting in the hood of his car, smoking and reading. "Cadence!" Kendall yelled. The girl looked up from her book as they made their way to the car. "Thank God you're here!"

"Where was I gonna go? You have the keys" she said in an obvious tone.

"Yeah, but you were upset, I thought-"

"I told you I wasn't gonna run away Kendall" she said jumping off the car and putting out her cigarette.

"Yeah, but you weren't in any other class-"

"I got bored" she simply said.

"You got bored? Cadence you can't just run out of a class every time you get bored!"

"Why not? We do" James said confused and Cadence turned to look at Kendall with a smirk.

"Shut up James!"

"Do you now?" she said with an arched eyebrow. "So then, you're being a little hypocritical here, aren't you Kendall?"

"Look, I just don't want you to get in trouble" Kendall told her.

"I'm Guns N' Roses love" she said smiling. "I got an appetite for destruction" she said still smiling but rolled her eyes when she saw Kendall didn't think it was funny. "Ugh, relax ok, I was bored with your dumb little girlf- ex, ex-girlfriend" she corrected when she saw the look on his face. She saw Kendall was about to say something but she stopped him. "Oh, no, please don't even try to say sorry. Why are you always sorry? Is not your fault! I told you, I saw how people looked at me. Can we just go?"

"Sure" Kendall said sighting. The three teenagers got in the car and drove to the Knights' home.

* * *

**A/N: well, that's it for now :) I hope you liked it and I will try to update soon :D thanks again for reading! **


	3. Maybe This Time

**A/N: hello again, sorry I took a little longer but... well I got a job :D so things got kind of crazy but I'll do my best to post as much as I can :D thank you so much for everyone who liked my story and here's chapter 3!**

**special thanks to suckerforlovestory, IamRusherB, RandomWriter23, Torilevesu and a guest that didn't leave a name haha thanks for your reviews you guys rock! :D **

**********Disclaimer: I don't know BTR, Criminal Minds or anything here just my OC. :)**

* * *

"Cadence, Kendall! Come on guys the show starts in about twenty minutes" Mr. Knight said from the living room. It had been about two weeks since Cadence came into the Knights' home and Kendall still had nothing figured out. Why she was there, what she was hiding, why was she so nice sometimes but wouldn't even talk other times. But here they were, getting ready for Katie's Ballet Recital.

"Coming, coming" Kendall said annoyed walking down the stairs. "Why do I have to go to Katie's ballet show?"

"Hey, if she goes to your hockey games you go to her ballet shows" Mr. Knight told him.

"Plus, hockey is so much more boring than ballet" they both heard Cadence coming down the stairs. Kendall turned to stare at her shocked. "Relax, I'm joking" she said thinking he was shocked by her comment. "…well, sort of" she said rolling her eyes.

"You look very nice Cadence" Mr. Knight said eyeing his son and trying his best to hide his smirk. "Let's go!"

Kendall was still standing there looking at Cadence. She was wearing a simple but beautiful, long-sleeved, short red wine dress with black tights and heels. "Your mom got really carried away with shopping yesterday" she said smiling awkwardly. "I told her the headband was completely unnecessary" she said pointing at the black bow on her head.

"You look…" _Beautiful, say beautiful!_ "Really good" was everything that came out of his mouth. While he silently cursed himself Cadence let out a small laugh.

"Well, thanks Blondie, you clean up good yourself" she said walking past him and getting out of the house.

"I'm an idiot" Kendal muttered while walking after her and they got in the car.

"So, Cadence what did you think of Kendall's friends?" Mr. Knight asked once they were on their way.

"Um" Cadence said getting a little nervous while Kendall smirked at her. "I haven't really have the chance to do that" she said with a small smile. "You know, um, getting caught up in class and all" she answered. It was sort of true, except that it was more she avoided everyone at school, except Kendall or James from time to time.

"Yeah, first few days are probably rough, but you'll catch up kid" he said kindly. "And I'm sure, Kendall, James, Logan and Carlos will help you-"

"Carlos!?" Cadence said turning to look at Kendall. "You're friends with that jerk-jock! Jock" she corrected herself looking at Mr. Knight with a small smile. "You're friends with that dork?" she closed her mouth and looked apologetically at Mr. Knight who tried not to laugh at the clumsy girl.

"No, he's not my friend anymore, remember dad?" Kendall said glaring a little at his dad.

"No, I honestly don't remember any of your friends' names except for those three" Mr. Knight said as they pulled over at the parking lot. "Well, we're here!"

They made their way into the theater and looked for Mrs. Knight who was saving their seats.

"Cadence! You look beautiful!" she said when she saw the girl.

"Thanks Mrs. Knight" she said politely.

She had been there for two weeks but the Knights were actually nicer than anyone had been in more than two years. The four of them took their seats and waited for the show to start. Cadence kept kicking Kendall every time he started nodding off. The first time Katie came up, Cadence turned to look at Mr. and Mrs. Knight, they looked so proud of her. Even Kendall was looking at his little sister with the biggest smile on his face. Once Katie was finished and she was standing in the middle of the stage, everyone did a standing ovation, everyone except Cadence. Kendall turned to look at the girl, still in her seat spaced out looking at the stage. Everyone sat back down and the next act started.

"Um, I need to um, go to the bathroom" Cadence said before she stood up and walked away. After a couple of minutes, when she didn't come back, Kendall decided he was going to go look for her. His parents hadn't even noticed she was gone because they were so into the performance, so he simply got up and walked away.

"Hey" he said once he found Cadence outside, smoking.

"How did you know I'd be here?" she asked not turning to look at him. She was just sitting on a bench, spaced out looking upfront.

"Lucky guess" Kendall said sitting down next to her. "So, what's wrong?"

"Needed some fresh air" she simply said. Kendall looked at her with his eyebrows raised. "What? _This_ is my fresh air" she defended.

"Well, yeah I know is boring but-"

"Hey" she turned to him with a serious look. "I never said it was boring" she told him. "And Katie is really good" she finished. "So" she continued after a moment of awkward silence. "You were friends with sporto?"

"Yeah" Kendall simply said not looking at her.

"What happened?"

"How about this?" he said looking at her. "I answer one question for you, and you answer one question for me" he said with a little smirk.

"Like 20 questions?"

"Yeah" Kendall saw her think a little bit.

"One condition" she told him. "You can't ask me about jail" she simply said.

"Fine, you can't ask me about Jo" he said raising his eyebrow.

"Fair enough" she said shaking his hand. "So, sporto?"

"We were friends when we were kids" Kendall started. "And then, well he started hanging out with his jocks friends more and as you can see, they're not really the best people so I guess we drifted apart" he finished.

"Oh, how heartbreaking" she mocked him. Kendall rolled his eyes. "What do you mean his jock friends, you play hockey" she said confused.

"Yeah, but Carlos plays like every sport there is other than hockey" he simply answered. "So, how old when you when you started smoking?"

Cadence didn't really see that question coming. "Um, about fifteen" she answered.

"Why do you do it?"

"I believe is my turn, Blondie" she said with a little laugh. "Do you honestly believe that your friends are better that sporto's friends?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, Josie and the Pussycats and well those guys you hang out with, aside from James-"

"Hold on, you like James?" he asked containing a laugh.

"I didn't say I liked James" she told him. "I'm just saying that compared to your other 'friends', he's not so bad."

"Right" Kendall said with a little smirk. "What was the question again?"

"If you honestly thought that sporto's friends were worse than yours?"

"Is not that they're better or worse is just… I don't know" he finished.

"Wow, they must be worse than I thought."

"Hey! Is not like that!"

"Sure, keep telling yourself that Blondie" she said with a little laugh.

"At least I have friends" he muttered under his breath but she heard him.

"Are you sure?"

"Whatever, is my turn" he said childishly and Cadence rolled her eyes. "Why are you smoking?"

"What? What kind of question is that?"

"I mean, my parents are inside, you know they don't let you smoke and what if my mom came out looking for you?"

Cadence sighted. "I only smoke when I'm upset or when I'm nervous" she said looking down. Kendall could tell she sounded honest. "Like the first day of school I smoked before getting in, or later when you ex-girlfriend talked to me, or after I beat sporto" she said with a little chuckle.

"So why are you smoking right now?"

"You seriously can't follow the rules of 20 questions, can you?" she said with a smirk. "Besides," she said getting up, putting out her cigarette and spraying her perfume all around. "I think is time we get back before your parents realize we've been gone for almost three acts now."

"How do you know it's been three acts?"

"I um, read the program" she said with a small smile and showing him the program in her hand. "Let's go!"

* * *

"All right everyone" Mr. Heron said to the whole class. "For this project you are gonna be working in partners, and no, you don't get to choose them" he added and the whole class complained. He started pairing up everyone and came down to the last couple. "And Mr. Mitchell, you're gonna be working with Miss Thomsen" he told the nerd guy at the front of the class who turned to look at Cadence and paled a little. The bell rang and everyone left the class. Cadence got out and looked for her project partner.

"Hey" she said smiling at him. He jumped a little when he heard her voice and Cadence looked at him confused. "Um, sooo" she said a little awkward. "I was thinking we could talk about the project after school? Kendall has hockey practice and I have to wait for him anyways so-"

"Um, I have hockey practice too" the boy said shyly.

"You, really?" she asked without really thinking. He just didn't really look like a jock and well, let's face it, last time she had to wait for Kendall, she didn't really pay attention to the game. The guy turned to glare at her a little, but Cadence could see he was uncomfortable. "Relax, I just didn't know you'd like hockey" she simply said. "Well, so would you like to get together at lunch, or tomorrow, or maybe we could- are you scared of me?"

"What? Why would you say that?" he said nervously.

"You're shaking" Cadence stated. "And is not cold out here genius" she said annoyed. "Look" she sighted. "If um, if you don't feel comfortable doing this project with me, I can talk to Mr. Heron and maybe I could do it by myself" she said looking down.

Is not like she cared if he didn't want to do the project with her, she was just really getting annoyed with the fact that people couldn't even do a stupid project with her.

"Look, is just-"

"Save it genius" she said glaring at him. "I'll do the project myself" she said as she started to walk away, but she stopped and looked back at him. "You know? I don't know why there was a part of me that thought you'd be less judgmental than the rest of people in this school" she said before finally walking away and he started at her right before some jocks came up to the him and pushed him against the lockers.

"Watch where you're going freak!" the biggest of the guys said laughing at him before they walked away. Cadence heard them but she didn't even look back.

"Hey, what were you doing talking to that dork?" James asked appearing out of nowhere with Kendall next to him.

"You know, guys? If I were you, I'd be nicer to nerds, in the future they might be your bosses" she said with a little smirk as she made her way to her locker. "He doesn't want to be my partner in our project so I'm gonna go tell Mr. Heron that I'm doing it by myself-"

"I could be your partner" James told her smirking.

"You're not even in that class" Cadence said rolling her eyes.

"I didn't mean for the class" he said winking at her.

"Keep on dreaming Prince Charming" she said laughing and closing her locker.

"Cadence, who wrote that?" Kendall asked concerned when he saw the word _Criminal_ sprayed in red on her locker's door.

"Oh, I decorated, don't you like it?"

"Cadence-"

"I don't know who wrote it" she said rolling her eyes.

"What? But, this is wrong. I'm gonna find out who did it and then I'm gonna have the principal down here so fast they won't even..."

"Ok, ok calm down Nancy Drew!" Cadence said annoyed. "Is fine."

"No is not fine-"

"No, is actually really lame. Is what they have to do to make me feel bad about myself or like making me feel threatened or something, so don't worry about it ok? I gotta go find Mr. Heron" she said walking past the two boys, but she didn't make her way to the teachers' office, she made her way outside.

* * *

Later that day, Cadence was sitting in the bleachers while she waited Kendall to finish his hockey practice when she felt someone coming her way.

"Go away Prince Charming, I said no" she simply said not taking her eyes off her book.

"Um, I'm sorry?"

Cadence looked up from her book and found her project partner standing in front of her. "Oh, thought you were number 12" she said going back to her book. "Aren't you supposed to not talk to me without bodyguards? Or witnesses?" she asked smiling sarcastically at him.

"Yeah, um" he said awkwardly. "I um, that's actually what I was hoping to talk to you about…"

"I'm listening" she said closing her book and resting her head on her hand.

"Um, well, I'm sorry" he said nervously.

"You're still shaking-"

"Is because you make me nervous ok? Not scared, nervous! Trust me I deal with stupid bullies every day, you don't _scare_ me, you're just… sort of… intimidating" he said looking down. Cadence raised an eyebrow at him.

"O…k?" she asked a little confused. "So, how come you're here talking to me?"

"Well, I guess you were right" he said looking at her. "I may have judged you too fast and well… I would like to be your partner for the project… if you still want" he said nervously.

"Why did you suddenly change your mind?"

"I told you, you were right… people do judge really fast in this school and well, you never really judged me so, I shouldn't judge you" he said but Cadence just stared at him, she knew there was something more.

"Ok, so I'm gonna let this one slip and assume that I make you nervous cause I'm just that awesome" she said smirking at him a little.

"So, would you like to be my partner? I actually have a pretty good idea of what we could do" he said trying to calm his nerves. Cadence thought about it for a minute before she smiled a little.

"Sure" she simply said.

"Hey Mitchell! Get back here now!" the coach yelled at the boy.

"Well, I have to go" he said looking at her before turning around and skating to the group of boys. "But we can get together tomorrow?" he said and she nodded.

"Hey, hold up" Cadence said and he turned around. "What's your name?"

"Um, Logan" he said with a shy smile and Cadence smiled back at him.

"I'm Cadence."

* * *

"Why were you talking to Logan again?" Kendall asked her on the way back home.

"Ow, are you jealous Kenny?" she asked mocking him and pinching his cheek and Kendall glared a little at her. "He's my partner in a project."

"I thought he didn't want to be your partner" he said confused.

"Come on, everyone wants to be my partner, I'm adorable" she said with a little laugh. "Hey, is he the Logan that your dad remembers?"

"Uh, yeah" Kendall said not facing her.

"Wait, so your friends were James, Carlos and Logan?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I don't know, it's kind of hard to believe. I mean, Carlos is a jock and Logan is a nerd and you and James are-"

"What?"

"Plastic."

"What?!" Kendall said a little offended.

"Oh, please, I mean, you're like the popular guys in school, your friends are always dressed like they're in a fashion show, James doesn't go anywhere without a comb, and you're always like… looking down on everyone else."

"No we're not!"

"Didn't James call Logan a dork the first time he was talking to me?"

"Yeah, but we don't like… you know push him around or anything like Carlos' friends-"

"Oh, please I saw your friend, um… this really dumb guy with a Johnny Bravo look, what's his name?"

"Jett?"

"Yeah, Jett, he's always making rude comments about him in class and he made him drop his books once and is not like the rest of the hockey team is nicer to him-"

"Why are you suddenly so interested in Logan?"

"Owww, is Kendall jealous?" she mocked him and he just rolled his eyes. "Or are you just mad that I'm pointing out what you guys do at that school?"

"What do you mean what we do at that school?"

"What I said about that Johnny Bravo guy and well, is not like you're nice to Logan and he was your friend once and I'm pretty sure that your Barbie friends were the ones that wrote that on my locker-"

"How are you so sure? I thought you said you didn't know who it was-"

"Well, I don't, but come on, they're always gossiping around me, they 'accidentally' make me trip, or hit me more than usual with a ball when we're in P.E., or leave stupid notes inside my locker or make comments in class-"

"What? They do WHAT?!" Kendall asked shocked hearing this for the first time. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Why would I?"

"I could've done something-"

"Oh, please Kendall, get it through your pretty little head: that school HATES ME, ok? Everyone except for you, James and maybe Logan are either too afraid to talk to me, or are just waiting to see me fall, because that's what people do Kendall, people fuck up with you, nothing's ever perfect, you know?" Kendall didn't really say anything. He didn't know what else to say. "So… why aren't you friends anymore?"

"Huh?"

"With Logan?"

"I thought we were done playing 20 questions" Kendall said a little annoyed as he pulled over to his house. Cadence was about to say something when she noticed a familiar car at the entrance.

"Oh my God!" she said practically throwing herself out of the car and running into the house, Kendall not far behind. "MORGAN!"

"Hey kid" Detective Morgan said from the kitchen where he was having coffee with Mrs. Knight.

"Is he here?" before Detective Morgan could answer, Cadence heard a familiar voice coming from the living room.

"What's the password?"

"Cullen" she heard Katie say.

"Colon?"

"Cullen, the vampire family from Twilight?" the little girl asked.

"What's Twilight?"

"Reid!" Cadence said smiling from the door.

"Cadence!"

Kendall saw a skinny, tall brunette man standing up from his couch and walking over to Cadence to hug her. He hugged her. Over the past weeks Kendall had noticed Cadence didn't even liked to be touched, but this man hugged her. Not that he was jealous or anything.

"I can't believe you're here" Cadence said returning the hug.

"Morgan told me you told him he could only come back if I came along" he said with a little laugh. "Hi, you must be Kendall" he said offering his hand to the blonde.

"Uh, hi" Kendall said shaking his hand. "Who are you?"

"I'm Dr. Reid, I work with Detective Morgan" he answered.

"Yeah, Detective Morgan who couldn't even get a 'how are you?' really kid?" Detective Morgan complained walking into the living room.

"How are you Morgan?" Cadence asked mocking him.

"Well, we came over to check up on you" he told her.

"And?"

"What do you mean 'and'?" Dr. Reid asked. Cadence arched her eyebrow at both of them and they sighted. "We promised Hotch we'd give him updates on you" Dr. Reid finished and Cadence nodded. Is not like anyone would just come to see how she's doing just because. "So, um, is there somewhere that we could talk, maybe?"

"Why don't you go outside to the backyard?" Mrs. Knight suggested. "It's a beautiful day."

"Are you ok with that?" Dr. Reid asked Cadence and she simply nodded and Kendall watched as they both stepped outside and sat on the bench in his garden.

* * *

"So, do you like it here with the Knights?" Dr. Reid started.

"Sure, I mean, better than prison, right?" she said with a little smile.

"Cadence, we talked about you avoiding questions with sarcasm."

"They're really nice" she told him.

"How about school? Are people in school nice?"

"What do you think?" she asked sarcastically.

"Um, Morgan mentioned something about a music class, are you gonna enroll in any extracurricular activities?"

"I don't think so."

"Why not? If I recall, you liked to sing and you were actually pretty good at it" he said sincerely.

"Thanks Doc" Cadence said with a little chuckle.

"It might be a good way to make friends" he suggested.

"What if I don't wanna have friends?"

"Why not?"

"I'm tired of liars" she said in a sad tone.

"Not everyone lies Cadence."

"Of course they do" she said hugging her knees to her chest. "People fuck you up. They may not mean to… but they do."

"Cadence you can't judge people based on your past. Living in the past only messes you up."

"Oh, I'm plenty messed up" Cadence said letting out a laugh and a tear at the same time.

"Cadence, sometimes life has to get really ugly, before it gets pretty" he assured her. "You can't just give up hope."

"Yes you can. Hope ruins everything" she said without any emotion in her voice. "If you have hope, it means you have expectations and is better to not expect anything because expectations just kill you when you don't get what you've expected."

"Cadence, do you know why you're here?" Dr. Reid suddenly asked. Cadence shook her head. "Morgan and I thought that by you being somewhere where people proved to you that there were still reasons to believe the world is a good place."

"You're kidding, right? Your work is to profile serial killers and you believe we live in a good world? It's a mad world Reid!"

"I have to believe it" he simply said.

"How, how do you believe that we live in a good world?"

"Stephen King wrote: 'Monsters are real. Ghosts are real too. They live inside us. And sometimes they win.' So, you just have to be stronger than them and you can't let them win Cadence, you can't give up."

"But what if I try again and I fail _again_?"

"Why would you fail?"

"Cause apparently, the only thing I'm good at is destroying myself" she said sadly. "What if I let people in again, and they let me down again? Why would I wanna put myself through that again?"

"People may surprise you" Dr. Reid suggested but Cadence just stayed silent for a while.

"People can't always be perfect, cause that's not real, is it?"

"No" Dr. Reid said a little confused by her question. "So, how do you feel about Kendall and Katie?"

"Katie is pretty cool. She reminds me of me when I was her age" she told him.

"Is that a good thing?"

"I guess" she said a little unsure.

"And Kendall?"

"Kendall is… confusing."

"Confusing, how?"

"I don't know" she said upset. "He's like… I know he's a nice person but…"

"But what?"

"I destroy everything I touch, remember?" she said sadly.

"You think you're gonna hurt him?" he asked. Cadence nodded lightly. "Cadence what you're feeling is perfectly common, given to what you've been through, even if I believe that in the past people hurt you more than you ever hurt any of them. The fact that you're scared about hurting Kendall-"

"I'm not scared" she said with anger in her voice.

"Yes you are, and the sooner you realize that, the sooner you're gonna get over that fear" Dr. Reid told her. Cadence looked at him. He was probably the only one who had never been intimidated by her. Even Morgan looked a little shaken whenever she snapped before.

"You're too smart for your own good Reid" she simply said and he smiled a little.

"Cadence, I know what is like to be afraid of your own mind, but you have to understand that you didn't do anything wrong. How do you expect for the people to believe that if you don't believe it?"

"What difference does it make? In a year from now, I'm gonna be out of here and I'm not gonna be anyone's problem anymore-"

"What are you going to do when you get out of here?"

"Why would you care, I won't be your problem anymore-"

"Maybe I asked because I care about you-"

"Maybe you asked, because Hotch needs a report" she snapped back.

"Hotch doesn't care what you do after you're eighteen, he just wants to make sure you're ok now, so if I'm asking, is because I want to know" Dr. Reid simply said. Cadence didn't know what to say. "Do you think it was Hotch's idea to let you live with the Knights? No. It was Morgan's and my idea."

"Why?"

"We believe in you" he told her. "I know you may not want to see it, but we care about you. It would've been really easy for us to just let you spend another year in jail, or send you to a foster home and let them take care of you, but we somehow believed that you're strong enough to get past this and have a normal life again."

"I don't know what normal feels like anymore" Cadence said with another tear rolling down her cheek.

"Then you have to figure it out" he told her with a warm smile.

* * *

**A/N: well, that was it for now :D and I also wanted to say that suggestions are always welcome cause I'm having a little trouble pairing everyone up sooo if there are any ideas they are welcome! :) thank you again so much for reading and I hope you liked it... I'll try to post chapter 4 by the end of the week tops! :D thanks again**


	4. Mad World

**A/N: hello everyone :D sorry it took me so much longer to post this chapter but things got kind of crazy with work and all :) but here it is! thank you so much to everyone who likes this story! you're awesome!**

**and as usual, ****special thanks to suckerforlovestory, Cece, RandomWriter23, and a guest that didn't leave a name haha thank you so much for your reviews you guys rock! :D**

******Disclaimer: I don't own anything, I wish I owned BTR though ;)**

* * *

"You played hockey?" Kendall asked Dr. Reid a little shocked while they were having dinner. He didn't look like he could do… well any kind of sport.

"No, I didn't play. I _coached_ hockey" he simply answered. "And basketball. I broke down the opposing team's shooting strategy" he told him.

"Is that why you always beat Morgan at pool?" Cadence asked him.

"What?" Mr. Knight asked laughing.

"Yeah. Took him about three rounds to realize I was hustling him" Reid said laughing.

"And Blackjack?"

"Blackjack's a great game and it's easy to learn. There's really not as much strategy to it as people think. I knew basic strategy before I was, like, nine years old. You have a total of 76 cards that come out of the deck. For example, if twenty-three were high cards with a value of minus one, seventeen were neutral with no value at all, and the rest were low cards with a value of plus one-"

"Does he always talk like this?" Mr. Knight asked trying to understand every word the young man said.

"Yes" Detective Morgan and Cadence answered at the same time and Dr. Reid turned to glare at them about to protest when the phone rang and Mrs. Knight got up to get it.

"So… you can help me count cards?" Katie asked looking at Dr. Reid.

"Katie! No counting cards in this house!" Mrs. Knight yelled from the living room.

"How does she do that?" the little girl asked turning to look at her father.

"Don't look at me kid" Mr. Knight said laughing.

"Um, Cadence, you have a phone call" Mrs. Knight said smiling coming back into the dining room.

"What? How can I have a phone call? All the people I know are here" Cadence asked really confused.

"It's Logan" Mrs. Knight said still smiling while Kendall chocked a little on his food and turned to look at her and both Detective Morgan and Dr. Reid turned to look at her with an arched eyebrow.

"Um thanks" Cadence said getting up and looking confused, particularly at Kendall before she went to the living room. After she was done talking to Logan, she was about to make her way back to the dinning room when she bumped into someone. Make that, two someones.

"Um, can I help you gentlemen?" she said looking up at Detective Morgan and Dr. Reid.

"What was that?" Detective Morgan asked her.

"Um, a phone call?"

"Logan?"

"Yeah, that's a name, Spencer" she said sarcastically.

"That's a boy's name" Detective Morgan said turning serious.

"Wow, Morgan and here I was thinking you were a crappy detective" she said rolling her eyes.

"Why didn't you say anything about him when we talked?" Dr. Reid asked skeptically.

"Um, cause there wasn't anything to tell" she answered.

"Why is he calling you?" Dr. Reid asked with an arched eyebrow. Cadence waved her hand motioning for them to get closer to her as if she was about to tell them a secret.

"Because he's my partner in a class project" she whispered and they both rolled their eyes and glare a little at her.

"Ok who is this Logan kid, why is he calling you and why didn't you say anything about it?" Detective Morgan asked sounding somehow protective.

"Do you like Logan?" Reid asked, curious and protectively.

"What? No! I met him today" she said annoyed.

"Then why are you blushing?"

"I'm not blushing!" she complained knowing Morgan had only said that because, whenever someone said she was blushing, she started to blush.

"It's interesting because based on you behavior tonight I was starting to think you were feeling a strong interest towards Kendall-"

"WHAT?" she asked shocked. Ok, now she could feel her cheeks burning red… a little.

"And he showed the same feeling towards you" he continued as if he hadn't said anything crazy.

"See? Now you _are_ blushing" Detective Morgan said with an arched eyebrow.

"Shut up! You guys promised me you weren't gonna analyze like every single detail about me!" she whined. "And there's no interest whatsoever towards Kendall! We talked about that" she told Dr. Reid.

"The fact that you were scared because you think you're gonna hurt him tells you that you care for him in some way and that's why you don't want to hurt him" Dr. Reid told her while Detective Morgan kept his intimidating look on her. Cadence knitted her eyebrows more confused than ever.

"Ok, I don't know what's going on here…" she said waving her waving her hand in the air pointing at both of them. "but I don't like it!" she said before she walked past them and got back to the dinning room.

The rest of the dinner went by pretty quickly. Both Reid and Morgan noticed how suddenly, Cadence was acting somewhat nervous around Kendall. After they finished, they both said goodbye to the Knights and Cadence walked them outside.

"So…" she said awkwardly when they were on the front porch. "How often does Hocth need a report?"

"Well, he said every month, but we thought every fifteen days wouldn't do any harm" Detective Morgan said with a soft smile. "Told you I'd come here every once in a while" he said messing her hair. She smiled at him and then turned to look at Dr. Reid.

"Do you really think I'm gonna be ok?"

"Honestly?" Dr. Reid asked and she nodded. "Yeah."

"How are you so sure?"

"Are you kidding? We both see ourselves in you" Morgan told her.

"You got Morgan's badass attitude" he said laughing a little.

"And you're just as smart as Reid… if not smarter" Morgan told her. "With that, you're gonna go a long way" Morgan finished. Cadence couldn't help but smile at the both of them. "You're gonna be fine kid."

"And you know if you need anything you can always call us" Dr. Reid told her.

"Yeah, and just be sure to tell that Logan kid, or Kendall or any other guy that… well that we have guns" Morgan said getting protective all over again.

"Yeah we both do even if I may not seem as intimidating as Morgan… or you" Reid said getting serious too.

"Um, ok" she said trying not to laugh. "Bye dads" she said before hugging them before they walked to the car and Cadence could hear them arguing over who could take any guy down first, Morgan with his strength or Reid with some strategy. She rolled her eyes laughing at them and walking back in the house.

"Hey" Kendall said when she walked back inside the living room.

"Hi" she said walking over to the couch and sitting next to him. "Oh my God! You're watching Fracture?" she said running to the couch and sitting next to Kendall.

"Um, I was just flipping through the channels. What's Fracture?"

"What's Fracture? You're kidding right?" she said laughing a little as she grabbed her glasses and put them on. "Is an awesome movie!" she explained right before they heard a shot on the screen.

"An awesome movie? He just shot his wife!" Kendall said looking at the screen.

"Well, is Anthony Hopkins, what do you expect?" she simply said getting more comfortable on the couch. "Is one of those movies that make you think, and then you totally don't see the ending coming" she continued. "Plus, Ryan Gosling is in it" she finished smiling.

"So… why did Logan call you?"

"He wanted me to bring some stuff for our project tomorrow" she said not taking her eyes off the screen.

"Oh" Kendall said turning to look at the TV and Cadence turned to look at him.

Wait, was that him being jealous? Was Dr. Reid right? Did Kendall like her? Wait, did she like Kendall? She thought it was just because Kendall has been the first person in a really long time to be nice to her. He didn't look at her like everyone else did in that school. But then she just shook her head thinking she was crazy. Maybe that's just the way Kendall is. He's just nice to everyone. There's no way he could even like her back. _Wait, why am I even thinking that? I don't care if he likes me back? HOLD ON! Why am I saying back, I don't like him… at least that way, right? UGH! Reid is way to smart for his own good. _She decided to look back to watch the movie and tried to just shake things off her head.

"Ok, that was an awesome movie" Kendall said once the movie was over.

"I told you" Cadence said smirking a little. "I always watched suspense movies with my grandpa and my mom would get furious telling him that it wasn't good for me to watch that" she said smiling sadly. Kendall looked at her a little surprised. This was probably the first time Cadence's ever talked about someone from her past. "Well, um" she said snapping out of her thoughts. "I'm gonna go to bed" she said standing up. "Goodnight Kendall" she said smiling at him before walking upstairs.

"Goodnight Cadence" Kendall said watching her as she walked away from him.

* * *

"No."

"Come on!"

"No!"

"Please! Cadence!" Kendall whined for about the millionth time.

"No Kendall" she said annoyed for about the millionth time.

"Why not?" he pouted.

"I told you, Logan hasn't even told me what we're going to do, and when he does, I'm not telling you! You're in my class, what if you steal it?"

"I wouldn't do that!" Kendall said offended. "I'm just still kind of lost in the whole thing!"

"That's because you were asleep when Mr. Heron explained the project" Cadence said laughing.

"No I wasn't!" he whined like a little kid. Cadence laughed rolling her eyes just when they were about to reach her locker.

"Whatever you say-" Cadence stopped when she noticed something. "Hey, it's gone" she said looking at her locker door.

"What's gone-?" Kendall started but stopped when he noticed it too. The words on her locker were gone.

"Did the janitor clean it?" she said touching it. Is not like they wrote it yesterday, it had been there over a week and no one had bother cleaning it.

"I don't think so" Kendall said looking as confused as Cadence.

"Kendall, KENDALL! There you are!" James came running towards them. "Well, hello my lady" he said when he noticed Cadence who simply rolled her eyes at him.

"What's up?"

"Oh, yeah, my mom is going on a business trip" he said excited.

"Are you serious?" Kendall asked getting as excited as James.

"Yes! She leaves on Thursday and isn't coming back until Sunday night!"

"I hate to interrupt this romantic moment" Cadence interrupted the boys. "But I still need to get to my locker" she said looking at James who was leaning against it.

"Don't you understand what this means?" Kendall asked her.

"If I say yes can I get my books out?"

"This means is Friday party party night!" James said excited.

"You said party twice" Cadence said trying not to laugh.

"I know!" James said excited. "And you get to be my date" he said smirking at her.

"And you get to keep on dreaming" Cadence said pushing him out of the way from her locker.

"Cadence come on, it'll be fun" Kendall tried to convince her.

"Oh my God! I know I mean, I could totally go with Josie and the Pussycats shopping and get like a total makeover and then I could like so ask Johnny Bravo to be my date" she said mocking a plastic voice.

"Hey! I am way hotter than Jett! If you're gonna have a date, it should be me!" James complained.

"There is no date Prince Charming, I'm not going" she told him closing her locker and starting to walk away.

"What? What do you mean you're not going?" James asked following her with Kendall.

"Cadence, it'll be good for you-"

"Uh, since when do you know what's good for me?"

"It'll be fun" he corrected.

"I'll be there" James said winking at her.

"You're not really making it better."

"Why don't you wanna go?"

"Why would I want to go? So I see all your stupid friends getting drunk and acting even stupider than they already do? I'm not even sure that's possible-"

"Look" Kendall said stepping in front of her and facing her. "I kind of need you to go" he said getting serious. "Next Friday is my mom and my dad's date night and I know Katie has a sleepover so, if you don't go… I won't be able to go" he said with pleading eyes. Cadence looked at the two boys standing in front of her pouting and making big puppy eyes at her.

"Ugh, fine" she said rolling her eyes while the two boys celebrated. "But, there better be margaritas" she said looking at James.

"Of course!"

"Wait, what? You're not getting drunk" Kendall told her.

"Then how do you expect me to tolerate everyone else?"

"Cadence-"

"Relax Blondie, I'm not getting drunk but I like margaritas" she said smiling.

"Besides, you guys can sleepover" James told them and then he turned to Cadence. "My bed is big enough for two" he said winking.

"Ok, so if you're staying with Kendall, I'm taking the couch" she simply answered before the bell rang. "Oh, and Kendall" she said and the blonde looked at her. "Good luck convincing your parents to take me to a party" she said before she turned around and walked away from the boys.

"Dude, she may be the hottest girl to ever be in this school" James said as they both still looked at her walking away.

"You say that about _every_ girl in this school" Kendall said rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, but this time, is true" James defended himself.

"You also say that" he told him.

"Do you think she'd go out with me?"

"WHAT?" Kendall asked him shocked as they both entered their classroom. "Y-you wanna go out with her?"

"Why not? She's hot, she's funny, she's single, I'm single-"

"James! Do you even realize what you're saying? You don't even know her, I-I mean, she's been through a lot and I just don't think that she'd go out with anyone right now-"

"Ok, relax, it was just an idea, you don't have to get all defensive on me" James said putting his hands up.

"I'm not being defensive" he said defensively. "I'm not!" he said when James arched his eyebrow at him.

* * *

"Hey, um Cadence" Logan said walking over to Cadence at the cafeteria line while she filled her tray.

"Ugh, seriously this is worse than prison food" she said grabbing a plate of salad and putting in on her tray. "What's up?" she said looking up at Logan while she took her tray and they walked over to a table. "Um, what are you doing?"

"Sitting" he said confused. "Why? Do you- do you mind?"

"No" she said laughing a little when he got nervous. "Is just that no one really sits with me" she said starting to eat her food.

"Well, I wanted to talk to you about our project" he said getting his backpack out and when he opened it Cadence noticed something fell out of it.

"Hey, what's that?" she asked with her mouth half full.

"Um, nothing" Logan said putting it back but Cadence grabbed it out of his hand.

"Why do you have alcohol and stain removers and sponges? And Ammonia?" she asked grabbing everything. She turned to look at Logan and saw that he blushed a little. "Wait, did you-? Were you the one that cleaned my locker?"

"It was nothing" he said looking down. "Lipstick is a grease-based cosmetic, so you just use stain remover and liquid detergent and then rinse it, but sometimes I use alcohol or ammonia-"

"Um, why did you clean it?" she asked confused.

"Well, I saw it yesterday and… well, I don't know I just thought-"

"Logan" she said with a little chuckle before he started to ramble. "Thank you, that was… very nice" she said smiling and he smiled back at her. "You didn't have to do it though" she told him before they heard some guys walking near them.

"I'm serious, man, she's whacked. She sold her own liver on the black market so she could buy new speakers" they heard one of them telling the other one as they passed them.

"I heard she ate a live duck once. Everything but the beak and the feet" the other one told him.

"She's a criminal. I heard she lit a state trooper on fire. She just got out of Alcatraz..." Cadence saw Kendall's ex-girlfriend with four other girls walking by them. Cadence simply rolled her eyes and kept on eating.

"Doesn't it bother you?" Logan asked her suddenly.

"Not really, I sold a kidney, not my liver and it was a live rabbit, not duck. Plus, a state trooper? Come on, it was an actual police guy" she said as if she was offended. "I'm joking" she stated when Logan didn't laugh. "Look, why would I care? People can say whatever they want, I honestly don't know what's worse, people who gossip, or the losers that believe it and spread it" she told him. "Look, I gotta go, I need a smoke, but I'll see you after school, right?"

"Yeah, sure" he said putting all of his stuff away. "I'm on my way to the library anyways" he said getting up too.

Cadence grabbed her stuff and before she walked out of the cafeteria she saw the four girls sitting over at Kendal and James' table. And for some reason, it bothered her. And she was a little confused on why Kendall was looking at her like that and pretty much glaring at Logan. She shook it off and they both walked out of the cafeteria. They parted their ways and Cadence was almost outside when she heard something being pushed against the lockers. Well, someone. She turned around and saw about three jocks pushing Logan around.

"Well, look what we have here" the biggest guy in the group said smirking. Cadence noticed Carlos one of them but he was standing a little further, not really looking at Logan.

"What's up nerd?" the other guy asked, not as tall as the first one but still pretty big. "You made a friend or do you think that hanging out with a criminal is gonna like scare us or something?"

"She's not a criminal!" Logan snapped.

"Ow, are you defending your little girlfriend?" the same guy said laughing.

"It would be a miracle if someone so hot would even look at you" the first guy said laughing. "I bet I could show her what is like to be with a real man-"

"Don't talk about her like that!"

"Oow, I think someone has a crush" one of the other guys said laughing even more.

"That'd be the first time you'd think" Logan muttered before he knew what he was doing.

"What was that?" the guy said grabbing Logan by his shirt and smashing him against the lockers.

"N-nothing" Logan said. Cadence could see he was even shaking a little and she noticed he was sort of looking at Carlos. She rolled her eyes and made her way to them.

"Hey!" all of the guys, including Logan, turned to look at her. "Let go of him" she said throwing daggers at him.

"Sweetheart, I don't think you wanna waste your time on him" the guy holding Logan said with a smirk.

"I'm not your _sweetheart_" Cadence said annoyed. "As you may recall I went all death star on your coward friend back there" she said glaring at Carlos. "And I wouldn't hesitate to do it again."

The guy pushed Logan out of his way and walked towards Cadence. "You know, you have a big mouth for someone so small" he said glaring at her a little. "You better be careful before someone shuts it up for good."

"You don't scare me" Cadence told him trying not to show she was getting a little nervous even if the guy was about two times her size.

"Are you sure about that?" he asked with a big smirk on his face. "You know, I could show you a good time" he said his smirk turning wider.

"And I could vomit all over you right now" she said sarcastically.

"Watch that mouth babe" he said stroking Cadence's arm with his hand. Cadence grabbed his hand with hers and removed it from her arm.

"Don't touch me" she said furious before she tried to slap him but he grabbed her wrist.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you" he said threateningly.

"Let go of me!"

"Are you gonna make me?" before he knew what happened, he felt Cadence's knee hitting him between the legs. He whimpered in pain but still managed to hold on to Cadence's wrist. "You crazy bitch! What the fuck is your problem?" he snapped before he shook her and pushed her away from him. Cadence tripped and hit some lockers before she fell to the floor.

"Max, what the fuck!?" Carlos asked furious. "You just pushed a girl!"

"Whatever Garcia" he said before walking away from the scene with the other guy in the group.

"Cadence!" Logan said, standing up from the floor and walking over to her but the girl backed away from him as she started breathing heavily. She was shaking and she could feel her heart pounding really fast.

"Is she ok?" Carlos said coming over to them.

"Why the fuck do you care?" Logan snapped at him.

"Dude, she's like not breathing!" Carlos yelled looking at Cadence ignoring Logan snapping at him.

"Cadence?" the two boys turned around when they heard that voice and they saw James standing there. He dropped his backpack and ran towards the girl on the floor pushing Carlos and Logan aside. "What the fuck did you do to her?!"

"Why don't you ask Carlos?" Logan said angry while James tried to calm her down, but she just kept on freaking out.

"Duce, knock it off, it wasn't me-"

"Go get Kendall!" James yelled at the two boys and they turned to look at him confused. "NOW!" Carlos and Logan moved as fast as they could, obeying the taller brunette. "Cadence, can you hear me?" he asked her but she didn't answer, she just tried to calm her breathing. James saw how scared she was. "Is ok Cadence, I'm here and Kendall is coming, ok?"

"CADENCE!" James saw Kendall running down the hall with Carlos and Logan behind him. That had to be the fastest his friend had ever get somewhere. "What the fuck happened?"

"I don't know! I found her like this! It was them" James complained pointing at Carlos and Logan.

"Cadence! Cadence, look at me!" Kendall said kneeling down next to her. He placed Cadence's face between his hands and made her look straightly at him. "Cadence, you need to calm down, ok?"

"Kendall" he heard her whisper while she grabbed his hands with her own hands as if her life depended on it. Kendall's heart broke a little when he realized how scared she actually was.

"I'm right here Cadence, just breathe with me, ok?" he said in a soft voice as he started breathing in and out and she started to follow his lead. "There you go, is ok" he kept on telling her as she tried to calm down. "Are you ok?" he asked her softly and she just nodded. "What happened?"

"You were right" she said with a small voice. "Carlos' friends are worse than yours" she said letting out a little laugh. Kendall knitted his eyebrows in confusion before he realized what she said. Before Cadence knew what was happening, Kendall was up and turned around grabbing Carlos by the collar of his shirt and smashed him against the lockers.

"What the fuck did you do to her Garcia?" he said with venom in his voice. Cadence stood up as fast as she could and walked over to them.

"Kendall, please, I could take _him!_ He didn't do anything" she told him. "Stop it!" she said trying to remove his arm from Carlos. "Look, is fine" she said in a small voice. "Don't worry about it" she said nervously. "Thank you" she said getting shaky before she grabbed her bag and started practically running outside.

"Cadence! CADENCE!" Kendall ran after her and she stopped until they were outside.

"What?" she asked turning around and with a cigarette in her hand, lighter in the other one ready to light it up.

"You can't be serious!" Kendall said annoyed walking over to her and throwing away her cigarette.

"Hey! I pay money for that stuff!" she said annoyed as she bent down to pick it up.

"How do you even get cigarettes?"

"I have my ways" she said ready to light it again but this time, Kendall took her lighter out of her hand. "Kendall!"

"What happened in there?" Cadence looked down.

"I don't know wh-"

"Cadence, don't play dumb on me! What the hell happened?"

"I DON'T KNOW!" she said facing him again and Kendall could tell she was telling the truth. "I was fine and then I wasn't" she said sitting down on a bench and she sighted desperately. "I couldn't breathe and I was sort of shaking and I felt my heart beating really fast and I-"

"You had a panic attack" Kendall said softly.

"Then why are you asking me what happened if you know-?"

"I meant why" he said in a soft voice not wanting her to get more upset. "Why did you have a panic attack?"

"I don't know Kendall, I've never had a panic attack before-"

"That's not true. You had one the night you came" he told her. "After you broke a plate" he saw her get a little tense. "Did you tell Dr. Reid about it?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Cause I didn't think it was something to talk about it had never happened before and I didn't think it'd happen again" she told him.

"But it did-"

"I know Kendall" she said looking at the ground.

"Cadence you can talk to me" he told her honestly. She turned to look at him again and stared at him in the eye.

"I need a cigarette" she said standing up.

"Cadence!" Kendall said annoyed walking after her. "I'm trying to help you-"

"I don't need your help!" she said turning to face him again.

"You looked really scared in there-"

"I don't _get_ scared" she said stubbornly.

"Fine, maybe you want to talk to Dr. Reid, do you want my phone?"

"No! I don't need to talk to Reid, ok? I don't need you to worry about me ok? Everyone just needs to like back the fuck up a little!" she said getting frustrated. "I'm fine!"

"You're not fine! You had a panic attack! Stop avoiding the subject! What did Carlos do to you-?"

"HE didn't do anything! It was his stupid friend! He pushed me ok? Is that what you wanted to hear? Are you happy now? Can I have my lighter back?"

"No! Why do you think is ok for people to do that to you and not do anything about it? Why don't you talk to me about these things and you just keep everything to yourself-?"

"Because why would you care?"

"Because I care about you! Why is that so hard for you to understand?! I don't want you to get hurt! I told you those guys were assholes and you still go and mess with one of them-"

"Oh so this is my fault? I made him push me? I asked for it!?"

"No! I never said that but is like… like you're trying to get yourself in trouble on purpose-"

"He was pushing Logan around! And then he started threatening me!"

"Then come and talk to me! Or to James don't try just to like fight him on your own-"

"I DIDN'T! And I don't need you or James to protect me! I can take care of myself!"

"Oh yea? Then why did you calm down when I came to help you while you were having a panic attack?" Kendall said a little harsh. Cadence opened her mouth to say something but closed it again. "Cadence, asking for help doesn't make you weak."

"Look, seriously, why do you care so much? In a year from now, I'll be gone! And you won't have to think about me ever again, ok? until one day you're walking down the street in your fancy ass suit with all your big shot friends and you look over and see me homeless on the street begging for money-"

"Why do you think the worst of yourself?" Kendall asked her with sadness in his voice. She turned to look at him with the most broken look Kendall had ever seen on someone.

"Why wouldn't I?" she said sadly. "Everybody else does."

Cadence turned around and walked away from Kendall. This time, he just stared at her. He had no idea that she was so broken. He didn't know why she was so broken or who made her that way, he only knew he wanted to fix her.

* * *

It had been a couple of days since Kendall had his argument with Cadence. And since then, the girl had become an expert in avoiding him. He didn't even know what was more annoying. The fact that she didn't talk to him or the fact that she would talk to Logan. He didn't know why it bothered him so much, they were doing a project together, but one time, he even saw her talking to James. Why was he the bad guy? He was just trying to help her and she just shut him off. It was time for Mr. Heron's Psychology class and time for everyone to show their projects. He wasn't even sure how he's project turned out. He's partner was Dak and they just sort of brought a movie for the class to see. Kendall saw Cadence sitting at the back of the class with Logan. He was talking to her about something but she wasn't really paying attention to him. She was staring out the window.

"Ok everyone" Mr. Heron said walking into the class. "I hope you have your projects ready" he said excited as he wrote the word 'Vulnerability' on the blackboard. "So, as you all guys know, high school is a place where you most often get your insecurities out there and sometimes is even used as a motive to pick on someone. So, I wanted to see your perspective on it, let's get started!"

Before Kendall knew it, it was Logan and Cadence's turn. They both walked over to the front of the class and Logan started talking. He started saying how everyone was vulnerable about something and some people were just better at hiding it than others. He started rambling about some studies they did about bullying and how it affects people.

"So, we basically made something instead of boring you with numbers and everything, we're showing you some of the people that are actually tired of feeling helpless and tired of people labeling them as just one thing" Cadence spoke for the first time. Logan turned out the lights and a video started playing in black and white.

A bunch of random teenagers that Kendall he had never seen. They were sitting in different areas of a park with people walking all around them. The video was in black and white. Suddenly, Kendall heard what he thought was the most beautiful voice singing.

_All around me are familiar faces  
__Worn out places, worn out faces_

A girl sat alone on a bench and there was a group of girls sitting on another bench nearby and you could tell they were making fun of the girl for being overweight. Once someone walked in front of the camera, the girl was still sitting there, but she was wearing nothing but shorts, a white tank top and converse shoes. She had one of those sandwich boards on with the word 'Fat' on it. The background voice kept on singing as it moved to a different scene.

_Bright and early for their daily races  
__Going nowhere, going nowhere_

The same scene repeated with a boy. He was walking normally around the park when out of nowhere some guys pushed him making him drop his things. He bent down to pick them up and when he stood up again, he had the same outfit the first girl had. Except his sign said 'Gay'. The background voice changed, it was a guy this time.

_And I find it kind of funny  
__I find it kind of sad  
____The dreams in which I'm dying  
__Are the best I've ever had_

The scene went over to the group of girls that were making fun of the overweight girl in the beginning but it singled out a particular girl. She looked down at herself and suddenly; she had the shorts, the tank top, the shoes and a big sign that said 'Fake'. The background voice came again and meddled with the female voice for the last part.

_I find it hard to tell you  
__I find it hard to take  
__When people run in circles  
__It's a very, very…  
__Mad world  
__Mad world_

The three kids from the earlier shots were standing in a circle in the middle of the park with about four other guys. People were just walking past them and they looked like they were lost and sad just seeing everyone walk around them. Kendall saw Logan standing in the circle. And then, he spotted Cadence.

_Went to school and I was very nervous  
__No one knew me  
__No one knew me_

The scene changed to another guy walking around looking at everyone passing by him. A group of boys and girls walked next to him pointing at him and laughing at him. Someone walked in front of the camera and then he had the same outfit as the other three with a big sign saying 'Stupid'.

_Hello teacher tell me what's my lesson?  
__Look right through me  
__Look right through me_

This time, the scene was with Logan. He was walking through the park with his head buried in a book. He suddenly bumped into a group of jocks that really resembled the ones at their school. Kendall saw how they started pushing him around and one of them even punched him. When Logan stood up from the floor, he looked sadly at the sign on his chest. The one that said 'Loser.' The voice from the beginning came on again and Kendall was too lost in the video to even blink.

_And I find it kind of funny  
__I find it kind of sad  
__The dreams in which I'm dying  
__Are the best I've ever had  
__I find it hard to tell you  
__I find it hard to take_

Kendall saw her. It was Cadence. She was sitting against a tree reading a book with her glasses and a cigarette in her hand. Kendall couldn't help but to let out a little smile at how beautiful she looked. But she looked so sad at the same time. All of the sudden, a group of girls walked close to her gossiping to each other making disgusted faces and walking away. When the shot was back to Cadence, she still had her glasses on, but she had her knees curled up against her chest but she was wearing the short, tank top, converse shoes and the sign on her that said 'Criminal'.

_When people run in circles  
__It's a very, very  
__Mad World  
__Mad World_

The scene went back to the six guys standing in a circle in the middle of the park, but this time they were all in the same outfit with their signs hanging and they were all singing the words.

_Mad World  
__Mad World_

Once the song was finished, they all took the signs off threw them out and started walking together in the opposite direction everyone was going.

The lights went on again and Logan started explaining some of the things in the video. Mr. Heron congratulated them and started talking about how words can actually hurt people and sometimes nobody knew how badly.

Kendall was shocked. This is what Cadence thinks people see when they look at her. But he didn't see that. He saw a scared girl who was lost and needed someone. And he wanted to be that someone. He didn't know how, but he was going to do everything he could to show that to her.

* * *

**A/N: I know is not much but I'm already working on the next chapter and I'm also working on another story :D and on the next chapter there will be more James, Carlos and Logan so... keep tuning in :D**

**Song: Mad World - Tears For Fears (the video was based on an episode of the Glee Project where they do Vulnerability. I loved that video and for some reason kept thinking of it when it came to this story) **

**hope you liked it :D thank you so much for reading!**


	5. Get This Party Started

**A/N: hello everyone! :D I am so sorry for this taking me so long but well, my charger broke down and I had to wait for a new one so, well that wasn't fun but well, here we are :D thank you so much to everyone who likes this story :D **

**THANK YOU SO MUCH TO RandomWriter2, suckerforlovestory and LoveLiveLife22 FOR YOUR REVIEWS :D YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything :(**

* * *

"I cannot believe you're actually dragging me to this thing!"

"Hey! You said that if I convinced my parents to let you come to the party you'd come" Kendall said laughing a little as they drove to James' house.

"Yeah that was when I thought your parents would say no!" Cadence complained childishly.

"You might end up having fun" he told her.

"I doubt it" Cadence said annoyed.

"Why don't you wanna come?"

"Do you honestly believe that I should be going to a party where the entire school hates me?"

"Not the entire school" Kendall said.

"Minus two" she said rolling her eyes.

"Look, I'm gonna be there and James is gonna be there and well, if you get bored you can go to James' room and watch TV or something" he said not really knowing what else to tell her.

"Why are we even going there now? Isn't it later?"

"Well, James needed help with everything" Kendall simply said as they pulled over at probably the biggest house Cadence had ever seen in her life.

"_This_ is where James lives?"

"Yeah" Kendall said as they got out and walked over to the front door. He rang the doorbell and tried not to laugh at Cadence's face while she looked everywhere. After a while, James opened the door.

"'Sup Kenny" he said as Kendall and Cadence walked in. "My princess" he said smirking at Cadence.

"Dude, no joke this house is bigger than the prison I was in" she said looking everywhere.

"Uh, thanks?" James said letting out a little chuckle.

"Ok, so um where am I gonna stay?"

"You can stay with me" James said winking at her.

"Yeah, I'd rather sleep in the dog house Prince Charming" she said smirking.

"Actually, I'm serious" he told her. "You can both stay in my room or well if you don't want to… you can take a guest room" he told her.

"Um" Cadence turned to look at Kendall. She didn't really know what to say.

"James' room is big enough Cadence" he said laughing a little. "Or you can stay at one of the guest rooms if you feel more comfortable" he repeated.

"No, um, I don't mind" she said looking at them. "But no funny business" she warned James who put his hands up in surrender.

"I promise" he said with a little laugh. Not so much because he was sure she could kick his ass. He lead both of them to his room and Cadence still had the shocked look on her face.

"Ok, your room is probably bigger than the house I grew up in" she told him. James simply laughed rolling his eyes a little. Cadence noticed there was a huge bed which she assumed was James' and then a convertible sofa on the corner. "This is pretty cool" she said with a little smile while she sat on the sofa.

"Thanks."

"So when do all the fabulous people get here?" she said mocking the boys.

"Around nine" James told her.

"So, what do you need help with?" Kendall asked him sitting next to Cadence.

"Not much I got everything so now I should just wait for the Jennifers to get drunk enough" he said arching his eyebrows. Cadence rolled her eyes.

"First, you're a pig" she said looking at James. "Second, what are you drinking?"

"Beer" James simply answered and Cadence let out a loud snort.

"Good luck getting them drunk then" she said laughing.

"What do you mean?"

"Those bimbos- I mean fine young ladies" she corrected when both boys glared at her a little. "do not drink beer" she finished.

"How do you know?" Kendall asked arching an eyebrow at her.

"Beer makes you fat and have you ever seen those Barbies? I bet they haven't eaten carbs since they were about five months old" she told them. "If you wanna get them drunk, give them cocktails" she said smiling.

"What kind of cocktails?" James said suddenly interested.

"Any kind. Look, guys don't really care if they drink beer but most girls don't like beer because is too strong or because it makes you fat… when you drink cocktails, you don't even feel the alcohol, so they'll ask for another and then another, and another…"

"Until they get drunk!" James finished excited. "You are a genius!" James ran to her hugging her.

"Kendall! Get him off me!" Cadence said panicking a little while Kendall laughed and James let her go.

"So which cocktails can you make?"

"Any cocktail you want" she said shrugging her shoulders.

"Really?" Kendall asked a little shocked.

"Yeah" she said with an evil smirk.

A couple of hours later, James' house was full. Music was blasting through the speakers and most of the girls were drunk thanks to Cadence and James' huge bowls of cocktails.

"Dude! I love Cadence!" James told Kendall while he had one of the Jennifers on his right, kissing his neck, another one on his left kissing his cheek and the third one joined them with more drinks for everyone.

Kendall rolled his eyes and looked around the house for Cadence. He entered the kitchen and found her laughing at some drunk people with a glass in her hand.

"Having fun?" he asked coming to join her and he sat with her on the kitchen counter.

"Tons" she said sipping from her glass. "Those guys just bet that guy over there to jump from James' sealing into the pool naked" she said laughing. "Are you having fun?"

"Yeah" he said not really convinced.

"So then, why are you here sitting with me instead of with all your friends over there?" she pointed at some of his friends down the hall. "Had enough of them for a week?"

"Maybe I'd just rather hang out with you" he simply said and she turned around a little surprised. Kendall could swear she blushed a little but the light wasn't the best so maybe he just imagined it. "Um, I also wanted to thank you" he continued. "I know you didn't want to come to this party so… thanks for doing this for me" he said with a little smile.

"Relax Blondie, I also did it for me" she said sipping from her glass again. "You may have been right… I needed a break" she told him.

"A break from what?"

"Thinking" she simply said looking down.

"Look, Cadence about what happened-"

"Don't mention it" she said with a small smile. "I'm um" she said getting a little nervous. "I'm sorry."

Kendall was a little bit taken aback by that. He didn't expect for the girl to apologize. "What are you sorry for?"

"Well, I know you were worried when I had a panic attack" she said softly. "And I get that you um care about me" she continued. "It's just been a long time since anybody does" she told him sadly. Kendall's heart broke a little at her sad tone.

"Look, I just want you to understand that I do care about you and that if you need anything, you can talk to me" he told her. Cadence smiled a little. Something about Kendall made her want to just trust him and tell him everything about her but deep down she had this feeling that, in the end, she was alone, and there was no one that actually cared about her.

"We can talk about it in the morning" she said smiling. "Lets just party tonight" she said raising her glass and it was until then that she realized, Kendall didn't have a glass. "Hey! You aren't drinking anything!"

"Yeah, I guess I lost my beer somewhere" he said looking around. "I'll go get one" he said standing up. "Would you like more-?"

"No! I'm not drinking what I gave everyone else" she told him getting down too. "James promised me margaritas, remember?" she said smirking. "I'll go make more… I'll be right back" she said smiling before walking away.

"Hey Kendaaaaaaall…" he felt someone hang themselves from his neck and was a little disappointed when he saw it was Jo.

"Um, hey Jo, are you having fun?"

"SO much fun" the girl said giggling and taking another sip from her cup. "I don't know what James put in that bowl but is SO good" she said smiling.

"I can see that" Kendall said a little annoyed as he tried to walk away from him.

"Wait… where are you going?"

"I'm gonna go look for Cadence-"

"Ugh! That bitch? What do you even see in her?" she said disgusted.

"Hey! She's my friend" Kendall defended her.

"Oh, please, she doesn't have any friends. She's a soulless slut" she said getting upset.

"Jo! You don't even know her!"

"Kendall! You have to be blind or deaf if you don't see what she is! Everyone knows it! Why do you think she was in prison? She's a fucked up girl Kendall! I'm surprised your parents let her into your house-"

"Shut up! Stop talking about her like that!"

"Come on Kendall" she said flirty snaking her arms around his waist. "We could have some fun just like we used to" she whispered to him.

The next thing he knew, Jo had crashed her lips on his. He had to admit; he was a little drunk too and without knowing it he gave in the kiss a little. But he wasn't thinking about kissing Jo. His mind flew off wondering what it would be like to kiss a certain dark-haired girl that was a little shorter. That's when he snapped back and pushed Jo away. What he didn't see was said dark-haired girl standing on the corner with her glass in one hand and a beer in another one running out of the place before she could see anything else.

"Jo! You can't do this! You can't just come back and use me whenever you want! We broke up, remember? You cheated on me!" he said furious.

"Are you still mad about that? Kendall I said I was sorr-"

"I don't care if you're sorry! I don't love you anymore" he said with venom in his voice and walking away from her.

Cadence made her way through the crowd and walked over to the table where the huge cocktails bowls were. She grabbed a Solo Cup and filled it. She then chocked it down as fast as she could. She wanted to stop everything. She wanted to stop her feelings. She wanted to stop whatever this hunch was inside of her that gave her stupid butterflies whenever she saw Kendall and that felt like a kick in the stomach when she saw him kissing Jo. Why would she even care? Kendall could kiss whoever he wanted. Why would she even think that he would wanna kiss her? She had had enough. She poured herself another glass and grabbed a straw and just wondered through the house hoping to not see any of the blondes for the rest of the night. Instead, she bumped into someone else.

"Cadence?"

"Logan?" she said surprised. "What are you doing here? I thought you didn't like parties" she said confused remembering how she had invited him and he said parties weren't really his thing.

"Um, y-yeah I um, I changed my mind" he said a little nervous but Cadence noticed he was staring at something past her… well, someone.

She turned around to see what he was looking and saw a brunette girl she had seen with Kendall's friends before. _Ugh. Kendall_. She shook her head trying to get the blonde out of her mind and focused on Logan again.

"You came for her?" she asked with a little smirk.

"W-well, she's my neighbor and well, she sort of asked me for a ride and I couldn't say n-no" he said a little nervous.

"Oh my God! You have a crush on her!" Cadence yelled making some people turning to look at them. Logan widened his eyes at her and pulled her out of the living room and to the backyard.

"Would you be quiet!" he whispered. "Is not like I want it on the local news!" he said getting nervous.

"Ooooow! This is so sweet!" she said laughing and sipping her cup again. "So, what are you gonna do about it Romeo?"

"What do you mean?" he asked nervously.

"What do you mean, what do I mean?" she asked. "Wait, what? I got lost" she said with a little laugh.

"Um, how much of that have you had?" he asked concerned.

"This is my second one" she argued. "If you don't count the margaritas" she muttered but he heard her.

"What!?" Logan said grabbing her cup and smelling it. "This has vodka! You mixed tequila and vodka! And why are you using a straw! That makes it go faster! Cadence!"

"Shhhhh" she said grabbing her cup again. "Is not like I want it on the local news!" she said mocking him but he looked at her with a serious face. "Relax, I'm staying here anyways… so what do we do about you and…" she said tracing off.

"Camille" Logan finished for her. "Her name's Camille" he said smiling.

"Ow, that's adorable" she said giggling.

"Do you really think I should do something? I mean what do you suggest I do?"

"I don't know, go over there and offer her a drink" she simply said.

"I can't do that!" Logan said looking back at Camille who was laughing at something with her friends.

"What do you mean you can't? You can walk, you can talk, so what's the problem genius?"

"The problem is…" Logan said sighting sadly. "Look at her" he said. "She's so beautiful and funny and smart and she's one of the most popular girls in school, why would she even be interested in me?" he asked turning to look at Cadence again.

"Logan! What the hell! You're one of the smartest people that I know, ok? I only know one person smarter than you-"

"Who?"

"Not important" she said. "The point is, you're smart, you're funny, you're nice, why wouldn't she go out with you?"

"She's the kind of girl that would go out with like James or Kendall" he said. Cadence decided to ignore the grunge in her stomach when Logan mentioned Kendall. "Or Jett" he said turning to look at Camille who was a little too close to Jett.

"Logan, do you like the girl?" she asked him seriously.

"I do but-"

"And is she worth fighting for?"

"I think she is but-"

"Well she is or she isn't. See, first of all, Jett is not half the man you are. Secondly, don't let anyone ever make you feel like you don't deserve what you want" she told him smiling. "You should go for it!"

Logan thought about it for a while. The girl had a point.

"Just like that?"

"Yeah" she simply said drinking from her straw. "Life's too short to think and overanalyze stuff Logan" she told him. "How long have you liked her?"

"I don't know… since I met her?"

"And that was…"

"Pre-K-"

"DUDE! Did you know that a crush only lasts for four months? If is more than that you're in lo-"

"Shhh!" he said putting his hand on Cadence's mouth while he blushed. "Don't say it" he widened his eyes at her.

"Fine, I won't say it but I still think you should go for it" she simply said. Logan turned to look at Camille again and while he got lost staring at her, Cadence sneaked away from him to get a refill. On her way there, she bumped into someone else.

"Cadence! I LOVE YOU" James yelled coming towards her and hugging her.

"I know, everybody does" she said with a smirk.

"Wait, are you drunk? You didn't push me away" he said a little confused.

"I'm not drunk! You're drunk!" she said laughing.

"Hey! You know what we should do?" he asked arching his eyebrows.

"I'm not making out with you, you might pass on the mono from the Jennifers to me-"

"Oh please, I've had mono so many times, it's become stereo" he said laughing. "But no, I was gonna say shots!"

Cadence's eyes widened up suddenly interested in the tall brunette. "Diamond, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship!"

* * *

"Hey um Kendall" Kendall turned around to find Logan standing next to him. "Have you seen Cadence?"

"Uh, no" he said with a little hint of jealousy on his voice. "I was also looking for her… why?"

"W-well, I ran into her and she was kinda drunk and I'm just worried cause I haven't seen her again and-"

"Wait, what do you mean she was drunk?" Kendall asked getting worried. "She was fine when I was with her!"

_Shots, shots, shots, shots  
__Shots, shots, shots, shots  
__Shots, shots, shots, shots  
__Shots, shots, shots, shots  
__Everybody_

Kendall and Logan turned around to see a crowd of people yelling and surrounding James' dinning room table. Once they got closer, they managed to see both James and Cadence sitting on the table facing one another, each one of them with a row of about six different kinds of shots in front of them. Everyone around them was cheering for them.

_Shots, shots, shots, shots  
__Shots, shots, shots, shots  
__Shots, shots, shots, shots  
__Shots, shots, shots, shots  
__Everybody_

Logan and Kendall got closer and watched how the two teenagers choked down each shot as fast as they could to see who would finish their row first.

"Oh shit" Kendall muttered under his breath as he reached the table. Both Cadence and James reached out for the last two Jägerbombs and stood on the table dancing and singing the song with their drink on their hands.

_If you ain't getting drunk get the fuck out the club  
__If you ain't taking shots get the fuck out the club  
__If you ain't come to party get the fuck out the club  
__Now where my alcoholics let me see yo hands up  
__What you drinkin on?  
__Jägerbombs, lemon drops  
__Buttery nipples, jello shots  
__Kamikaze, three wise men  
__Fucked on that shit, get me some gin_

"Dude! How did you get her to do it?" a very drunk Jett asked as he made his way to Kendall.

"Do what?" Kendall asked confused as he saw James and Cadence choke down the Jägerbomb in their hands.

"Act like a human" Dak said laughing as him and Jett cheered on for them and turned around to see her dance.

_I fucked up  
__Let's go  
__La dad a da  
__La dad a dad a da  
__La dad a da  
__La dad a dad a da_

"Ok, Cadence, that's enough! Get down from there!" Kendall said protectively.

"No! I'm dancing!" she said stubbornly still singing and dancing, a little too provocative for Kendall's liking, with James while the next song started.

"Cadence!"

_I'm gonna pop some tags,  
__Only got twenty dollars in my pocket  
__I'm, I'm, I'm hunting, looking for a come up,  
__This is fucking awesome_

"Ok, that's enough" Kendall said getting upset. He grabbed Cadence's legs and carried her over his shoulder ignoring James' and everyone else's complaints.

"Kendall!" Cadence protested kicking and punching him on the back but he didn't let her go. Logan walked a not far behind them. "Put me down Knight!"

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Kendall said putting her down once they were outside.

"Well, I _was_ having fun!" she said sarcastically as she tried to go into the house again.

"You're drunk!"

"So what? You're too!"

"No I'm not!" Kendall told her.

"Then you should go get drunk grandpa!" she said laughing and trying to walk past him but tripping.

"Cadence!" Kendall said helping her up.

"Let go of me! I was having fun Kendall! Isn't that why you brought me here? You told me like a gizillion times that I might end up having fun! I start having fun and now you say I can't? You're weird!"

"I didn't ask you to get drunk!"

"Ugh why do you even care? Why don't you just go find Jo and leave me alone" she said annoyed walking past Kendall. He was too surprised at her comment to even answer.

"Jo?" Logan asked next to Kendall. "I thought you guys broke up-"

"We did" Kendall said annoyed.

"Then why would she-"

"I don't know Logan" he said frustrated. "Look, just um, can you keep an eye on her?" he asked pleadingly.

"Sure" Logan said with a little smile before they realized they lost her again.

Cadence walked through the hall, taking another drink along the way, looking for a bathroom. She got a little lost so she just opened the next door she found but closed it as soon as she heard two people moaning. "Ew!"

She kept on looking and opened another one. This one was in fact a bathroom, but someone was there. She saw a brunette girl curled up against the wall with her knees to her chest crying her eyes out. Wait a minute, she knew this girl. This is Logan's girl.

"S-sorry, I didn't know it was occupied-" she said before she tried to leave. She didn't really like people crying.

"She t-took h-him b-back" the girl said between cries.

"Um, I'm sorry?" Cadence said a little confused.

"She just t-took him back a-and he let h-her" the girl said still sobbing. Cadence awkwardly sat down on the edge of the shower and didn't really know what to do.

"Um, there, there" she said patting the girl's back. Camille turned to look at Cadence and jumped a little when she realized who it was.

"W-what are you doing here?" she asked still sniffing.

"Um, well, I needed to pee" she said honestly. "Um, are you ok?" Cadence immediately regretted that question because the girl let out a loud cry and started sobbing again. This time she even buried her head in Cadence's legs and kept on crying. "Um, it's ok" she said awkwardly paddling her hair. She sighted annoyed realizing there was no other way to get out of there other than… "What happened?"

"I-I thought he l-liked me" she said between sobs. "H-he asked m-me to come here today- a-and she said she didn't like h-him anymore-"

"Um, ok, hun I'm trying really hard to get this but I think that for me to get it I need to know who 'he' and 'she' are" Cadence said to the even drunker girl.

"J-Jett" Camille said before she cried again. "I thought he l-liked me and then Jo t-took him b-back-"

"Wait, Jo blonde Jo?" Cadence asked suddenly interested in the story. Camille nodded still crying. "Isn't she your friend?"

"I thought she was" Camille said crying again. "I thought she didn't care about h-him anymore, I mean they j-just dated for a f-few months and it was to make K-Kendall jealous… and now they were m-making out! Why would she t-take him b-back-?"

"Because she's a bitch" Cadence blurted out taking another sip and Camille turned to look at her. "Sorry, I know she's your friend but-"

"No, you're right" Camille said wiping away some tears. "I mean, she does this all the time, you know? She just uses people and then once she's done with them she tosses them aside! And I really thought Jett liked me!" she said letting a few tears escape again.

"Ugh, you can do a lot better than Jett if you ask me" Cadence said rolling her eyes.

"You think so?"

"Are you kidding? Jett is one of the stupidest guys I've met and I've met some stupid people in my life" she said with a little laugh. "Trust me, it'll come when you least expect it" she said smiling a little bit.

"Why are you being so nice to me?"

"Because you're letting me" Cadence simply said.

"Thank you" Camille said throwing herself at Cadence and hugging her.

"Ok, that's not really necessary" Cadence said pushing her a little away.

"It is" Camille said wiping away her tears. "I'm sorry my friends have been assholes and bitches to you" she said getting up. "You're a really nice girl" she said with a small smile.

"Yeah, well, don't spread the word, ok? I like it the way it is" Cadence said also getting up and both girls made their way out of the bathroom.

"Cadence! There you are!" Logan said walking up to her and stopped when he realized who was standing next to her. "C-Camille!"

"Hey Logan" the girl said with a sweet smile.

"A-are you ok?" he asked both of the girls.

"Yeah" Camille said simply. Logan turned to look at Cadence who was mouthing to him. 'Offer her a drink' while she pointed at the glass in her hand and then at Camille.

"Um, w-would you like something to drink?"

"Uh, yeah, sure, I'd like that" Camille said a little surprised but smiling sweetly.

"Uh, I'm gonna go get something to eat" Cadence told them. "I'll see you guys later" she said walking away after she winked at Logan.

Cadence felt her stomach growl a little and decided to make her way to the kitchen. She opened the fridge and looked for something when someone slammed the door next to her. She turned around and saw one of Kendall's friends standing in front of her.

"Uh, can I help you?" she asked trying to walk away but he placed his hands on her sides so she can't get out of there.

"You looked really hot tonight dancing on that table" he whispered leaning towards her.

"You're drunk" Cadence tried to push him away but the guy was pretty big and he held her tighter.

"So are you" he said smirking. "What do you say we have fun with it?"

"What do you say you get out of my face" Cadence said trying to get away but the guy held his grip. "Let me go!"

Cadence then felt the guy being ripped off her. She turned around to see what was going on and saw the guy's nose bleeding.

"What the fuck Garcia!" he asked furious bringing his hand to her nose.

"Why don't you get lost Dak!? The girl said no!" Cadence stood there a little frozen when saw Carlos standing between her and the guy, Dak apparently. Dak walked away from the kitchen cursing under his breath. "Are you ok?" he asked turning around to see the still paralyzed girl standing with a shock look on her face.

She nodded slightly. "Y-yeah, um thanks" she said not knowing what else to say.

"Did he hurt you?" he asked somewhat worried and Cadence shook her head no. It was sort of hard to believe that this guy that tried to be a smartass her first day of school was now helping her getting another smartass out of her way.

"N-no, I'm ok" she said with a little smile.

"You're not having another panic attack are you?" he said a little worried and Cadence let out a small laugh.

"No, not this time, don't worry" she said smiling and making Carlos smile too.

"Good" he told her. "Um, would you like something to drink?"

"Uh, sure, some water would be nice seeing as I'm drunk enough already" she said laughing a little.

"Really? Well, you hide it well" he told her as he grabbed a bottle of water from James' fridge.

"Thanks" she said as he handled her the bottle. "I think it just lowered a little cause apparently I was dancing on the dinning room table with James earlier" she said as she took a sip from her water.

"Yeah, I saw that" Carlos said laughing a little. They stood there in a sort of awkward silence until he spoke again. "Listen, um Cadence, I'm uh" he said looking at his feet and putting a hand behind his neck. "I'm sorry about what happened last week-"

"You didn't do anything" she simply said.

"I know, but Max was being an idiot, I mean, to you _and _to Logan and, I'm just sorry I couldn't help you I guess" he started rambling nervously. "I don't want you to think that I'm that much of an asshole, I would never hurt a girl-"

"Relax Carlos, I know" she said taking another drink from water. Carlos turned to look at her a little shocked. "Is ok" she said smiling sweetly at him.

"Cadence!" both teenagers turned around to see a furious Kendall in the entrance of the kitchen. "I have been looking _all_ _over_ for you!"

"Um, I'll leave you guys alone" Carlos said awkwardly leaving the kitchen.

"What the hell was that?" Kendall said walking over to Cadence.

"What the hell was what?"

"You and Carlos?"

"Nothing. He helped me when one of _your_ stupid friends tried to make a move on me-"

"WHAT! Who?"

"Zak" she said thinking.

"Dak?"

"Seriously, Dak, Jett who makes up your friends' names?"

"What did he do? Are you ok?"

"Yeah I'm fine" she said not looking at him.

"Cadence, look at me" Kendall said but she still refused. Kendall placed his hand under her chin and felt her flinch a little before he gently lifted her head up so she would look at him. "What happened?"

"What do you mean?" she asked genuinely confused.

"I mean, everything was going fine, you were laughing at some drunk guys and then you were drunk as hell on top of the table dancing with James-"

"We just did some shots" she said annoyed. "Are you jealous Kenny?" she asked smirking.

"Cadence I'm not joking! I was worried about you! I was looking all over for you-"

"Yeah? Well I was fine! I was having fun with James and then you carried me down the table-"

"Why did you get drunk!? You said you weren't drinking what everyone else was-"

"I told you! I needed a break from thinking ok?"

"Oh, that's real mature Cadence-" Kendall said with a sarcastic chuckle.

"You know what Kendall? I don't need you to tell me when the fuck to be mature! You were the one who dragged me here-"

"Not for you to get drunk and get in trouble _again-_"

"Well, if I'm so much of a burden then I'm sorry, I'll step out of your way" she said running past him.

"Fuck!" Kendall punched the kitchen counter. He had no idea how this kept on happening. One moment, everything was fine and he was closer to earn Cadence's trust and the next one, everything crumbled apart and the girl hated his guts.

"What was that?" Kendall turned around to see James standing in the kitchen entrance.

"Nothing" Kendall said upset grabbing another beer.

"Didn't really seem like nothing to me" he said arching his eyebrows at Kendall.

"She's crazy man! What am I supposed to do? I have tried to do everything right! She just ugh makes everything so hard!" he said frustrated.

"What was the fight about?"

"She started saying how I dragged her here in the first place and then when she was having fun with you, I didn't let her-!"

"So, she _was_ having fun with me?" he asked a little shocked. "I'm growing on the girl" he said smirking.

"Yes! Congratulations! You're growing on her, Logan's growing on her, fuck even Carlos is growing on her! And I'm just the shithead asshole that tries to be nice to her every time I get and yet she gets mad at me because she thinks I think she's a burden to me!"

"Is she?"

"Is she what?"

"A burden to you?"

"What? No! Why would she? I mean she's awesome! When she's in a good mood with me she's really funny and smart and maybe even sweet! And I'm just looking out for her! She's been through a lot you know! And somehow she manages to get herself into even more trouble and when I try to help there I'm still the bad guy-"

"Wow, she really fucked you up" James said laughing a little.

"What? What are you talking about?"

"Dude, you're hung up on her" James said still laughing.

"How drunk are you?"

"Not important" James said turning a little serious. "Point is, _you like Cadence_" he said in a little song.

"No, I don't! I just care about her ok?"

"Whatever you say dude, you know I'm always right about this stuff" James said grabbing a beer. "So, if you 'care about her' so much" he said doing air quotes when he said 'care'. "Then why the hell are you talking to me for? Go and tell her that!"

"She won't talk to me" Kendall said sadly. "No matter how hard I try, she doesn't wanna talk to me and I don't even know why" he said sadly.

"Look, I saw her going upstairs, I'm pretty sure she went to bed or something. I'll go talk to her ok?"

"Ok" he gave up. He figured he would probably only make things worse with Cadence so maybe James would have a shot.

James made his way to his bedroom, smirking. He knew Kendall better than anyone and he knew when Kendall liked someone. He entered his room and saw his window was opened. He walked over to her and saw Cadence on his roof smoking. She was wearing her pajama pants and a Ninja Turtles t-shirt.

"Hey darling what's wrong?" he asked with kind voice sitting next to her. She felt a jacket being put on her and she turned around to look up into James's deep hazel eyes. For once she didn't feel uncomfortable in his company and smiled gratefully up at him.

"Nothing's wrong" she whispered sadly.

"Yeah right. I'm not as dumb as I look Cadence. Something's definitely up you look like you were crying-"

"I don't cry James" she said bitterly taking another smoke.

"Cadence, come on, you can talk to me, I mean, you found my thinking spot…" he said with a sweet smile. "Is it about Kendall?" he saw her look down at her lap sadly.

"I didn't mean to yell at him" she said with a small voice.

"I know" James said softly.

"I know he's trying to be nice, I just… I guess I'm not used to that" she said sadly.

"Look Cadence, I don't know what happened to you in the past and I don't need you to tell me if you don't want to" he said with a sweet voice. "But I've known Kendall my whole life and…" he paused a little before sighting. "When he cares about someone he would literally do whatever he can to make sure that that person is ok and I can really tell that he cares about you, you know? He's always been like that, I mean, whenever Carlos and I would think of something stupid to do, Kendall and Logan would be the ones that would point out why we shouldn't do it because we could get hurt" he said laughing a little and making Cadence let out the tiniest laugh he had heard. "He knows you've been through a lot and he just wants to help you and make sure you're safe" he told her. "You may not be used to that but that doesn't mean he won't care about you" he finished.

"Wow" Cadence said a little shocked. "You're _definitely_ not as dumb as you look" she said with a little laugh.

"Hey!" James protested a little.

"I'm kidding, you don't look dumb" she said smiling and surprisingly to James, she rested her head on his shoulder. "You're actually very sweet Prince Charming" she said smiling.

"I try" James said smiling.

"Well, this has been a crazy, interesting night" she said putting out her cigarette. "I think I'm gonna go to bed" she said standing up and James stood up too. "Thanks for lending me your jacket" she said taking it off and handing it to him. "…and your thinking spot" she said looking around.

"Anytime" James said smiling before they headed back into James' room. "You can take my bed if you want, Kendall and I would take the sofa" he told her.

"That's very sweet of you, but I can take the sofa" she said laughing.

"No, you're not. You're taking the bed, really what kind of Prince Charming would I be if I let you sleep on the sofa, that wouldn't be very chivalry of me" he said with a smile.

"You mean chivalrous?" Cadence asked trying not to laugh.

"Yeah that" he said laughing too.

"Well, thanks Prince Charming" Cadence said with a sweet smile and she hopped into James' bed. James walked over to the sofa to turn it into a bed. He turned around to say good night to Cadence and he noticed she was already asleep.

"Cadence?" he whispered. When he didn't get a reply, he walked over to his bed where she was curled up in a ball in an uneasy sleep. Grabbing the blankets he wrapped it around her and placed a kiss on her head.

"Kendall?" she whispered, still asleep. James smiled and walked out of the room quietly. He was gonna make them get together one way or another.

* * *

Cadence woke up when it was still dark outside. She panicked a little at first not remembering where she was but then when she looked around, she recognized James' room. That and also the fact that she heard some loud snoring coming from the corner. He saw James and Kendall on the couch, which was obviously a little too uncomfortable for them. She smiled at both sleeping boys. They were really nice guys. Even if she was still a little uneasy about everything still going on in her life, they were growing on her. The hangover came into her throat when she felt like she hadn't had a drink of water in ages. She got out of James' bed and tried to make her way to the kitchen. She was happy when she actually got there. She opened the fridge and found what looked like a berries smoothie. She got it out and smelled it just to be sure it didn't have alcohol in it and was relieved when it didn't. She poured herself a glass and froze when she heard something coming to the kitchen.

"H-hello?" she said a little scared.

"Cadence?" she heard Kendall's raspy voice as he stood on the kitchen door rubbing his eyes. His blonde hair was all over the place. Cadence had to admit that had to be one of the cutest scenes she had ever seen. "What are you doing up?" he said yawning.

"I was thirsty" she said laughing a little at how cute he looked.

"Um, James is gonna kill you if he finds out you finished his morning smoothie" he told her.

"What? Oh my God! I'm sorry I d-didn't know-" she said getting a little nervous.

"Hey, relax, we can make more" Kendall said laughing a little and walking over to the fridge. He grabbed some strawberries and blackberries and got the blender out.

"We're gonna wake up James" Cadence whispered a little worried.

"Cadence, a truck could run over James when he's sleeping and he wouldn't even notice" he said laughing as he made the smoothie.

"Hey um Kendall?" she said a little shy as he put the fruit in the blender.

"Yeah?" he said not even looking at her.

"I'm sorry a-about earlier" she said avoiding him when he turned to look at her. "I know I've um been saying that a lot is j-just that well, I guess it's been a while since someone actually cared about if I was ok" she said rubbing her arm and shifting uncomfortably.

"Cadence" Kendall said in a soft voice. She turned around to face him and Kendall saw her big brown, sad eyes look deeply into his eyes. He placed his hand on her cheek and Cadence flinched a little before she gave into his touch. "I care about you a lot" he said softly. "I really do and I just don't want you to get hurt or anything…" he trailed off.

Cadence got lost in Kendall's green eyes. She somehow started feeling butterflies in her stomach again and she felt her knees shaking a little.

"Thank you" she whispered barely audible.

"For what?" Kendall asked confused.

"Caring about me" she simply said. Kendall smiled softly at her. "We should do this before James gets up" she said laughing nervously and pulling away from Kendall.

"Is like four in the morning, he's not waking up for at least six hours" Kendall said laughing but Cadence ignored him and continued to do the smoothie. Cadence put the rest of the fruit onside the blender and without thinking she just turned it on. "Wait, Cadence-"

Before Kendall could finish, the blender went on and there was smoothie everywhere, specially on Kendall. Kendall opened his eyes when he felt the cold fruity drink on him and saw Cadence standing in front of him trying really hard not to laugh. "Oh m-my God" she said between laughs. "I'm s-so sorry" she said giggling. Kendall had to admit he was a bit upset of having the sticky stuff all over him but it was all worth it because he couldn't remember the last time Cadence really laughed at something.

"Oh you think that's funny?" he asked smirking and arching his bushy eyebrow at her. He started walking over to her and Cadence took a few steps backwards.

"Kendall, what are you doing?" she asked a little nervous but still laughing. Before she knew what was happening, Kendall caught up with her and wrapped his arms around her waist carrying her over his shoulder just like he did earlier that night. "Kendall!" Cadence said unable to contain her laughter. "Kendall wait!" she said kicking when she realized the blonde was heading outside… towards the pool. "Kendall! I said I was sorry" she said laughing. "KENDALL WAIT!"

She managed to yell before she felt being thrown at the pool. Kendall stood there laughing the whole time. "Cadence?" he called when ten seconds passed and she didn't resurface. "Come on, that's not funny!" When Cadence didn't appear, he started panicking a little and looked for the girl around the pool. Next thing ne knew, he jumped looking for the girl. "CADENCE!?" he called in a panic, diving in and resurfacing quickly. "CADENCE?" _Fuck! What if she couldn't swim?_

"Hey asshole" came a voice that sounded like it came from outside. "I could've drowned" Cadence said on the edge of the pool.

"Cadence!" he said a little upset. "That wasn't funny!"

"Well, it wasn't funny when you pushed me either" she pouted sitting on the edge just dipping her feet inside. Kendall swam over to her and rested his head on the edge next to her.

"Sorry" he said pouting at her.

"Is ok" she said laughing messing his hair with her hand as he looked up at her with his beautiful green eyes. Yes, Reid was right. She had a crush on Kendall. But then, she remembered him kissing Jo in the middle of the kitchen and she felt sad again.

"What's wrong?" Kendall asked noticing her smile fading. He got out of the pool and sitting next to her. "Cadence-?"

"I saw you kissing Jo" she blurted out before she could stop herself avoiding looking him in the eyes.

"You saw that?" Kendall asked somewhat nervous and Cadence nodded.

"Are you guys b-back together?" she asked looking down.

"No" Kendall said and Cadence snapped her head turning to look at him.

"Y-you're not?"

"N-no, she was really drunk and just came over to me and well, she kissed me and I guess I was a little drunk too because I kissed her back but then I stopped it" he said not really knowing why he had the need to explain everything to her.

"Oh" she simply said looking down once more. "Do you want her back?"

"No" Kendall said rolling his eyes. "She cheated on me, you know?"

Cadence turned around to see him again. "She what?" she said getting upset and Kendall nodded.

"With Jett" he told her.

"What?! And you're still friends with them?" she asked not understanding why he would still be friends with those people.

"Well, we were all kind of part of a group, you know what I mean? But yeah…" he said awkwardly.

"Well… like I said, is her loss" Cadence said smiling at him. Kendall smiled back at her before he felt her shivering a little.

"Come on, let's go inside, you're freezing" he said getting up and offering her his hand. She took it and stood up.

"Yeah, and whose fault is that?" she said giggling and making him laugh too.

They both made their way back into the kitchen and cleaned the whole mess. They decided they were too tired to make a smoothie so they'll just to do it in the morning. They made their way back to James' room where the tall brunette was still snoring.

"Told you" Kendall whispered to Cadence who tried not to laugh. "Come here" he said grabbing her hand and leading her to James' closet. He turned on the lights and started looking for some clothes.

"Um, so you're just gonna grab James' clothes?"

"Not exactly" he said walking over to a specific shelf. "I stay over here so often I have some clothes lying around."

"Oww, you guys make such a cute couple" she mocked him and Kendall stuck his tongue out at her.

"Here, these are mine" he said handing her a hockey jersey and some shorts.

"The Mighty Ducks?" she asked with a giggle looking at the jersey.

"Hey! That's an awesome movie" he defended himself.

"Yeah, is actually one of my favorite movies" she said smiling before she walked into the bathroom to get changed. When she came out Kendall couldn't help but to stare at her. She looked like she was drowning in his clothes that were a little too big for her. But she looked adorable. And then he noticed, her hair was dry.

"Did you use James hair blower?"

"Yeah" she said shrugging her shoulders.

"James will probably kill you in the morning" he said laughing before turning the lights off.

"I'm sure you won't let that happen" she said smiling sweetly at him.

"Of course I won't" he laughed rolling his eyes as he made his way to the couch where James was now lying taking most of the space in the bed.

"Um, K-Kendall" she said with a soft voice. The blonde boy turned to look at her who was sitting on James' bed. "Y-you can stay here if you want" she told him. "I mean, you guys barely fit in there a-and James' bed is really big" she said thinking to herself how glad she was that the lights were out, otherwise he could notice the red on her cheeks.

"Are you sure?" Kendall asked nervously. He didn't want to do anything that made her uncomfortable. "I can easily move James to one side-"

"I'm sure" she said smiling a little and moving to one side of the bed so he could get on the other side. "But no funny business, keep your hands to yourself Knight" she said once he had got in.

"Promise" Kendall said laughing and stopped a little surprised when he felt the girl curl up against him.

"Good night Kendall" she said almost asleep.

"Good night Cadence" he whispered before he wrapped his arm around her waist and he kissed her forehead.

* * *

**A/N: So, what did you think? I hope you guys liked it! and I will try to update sooner this time I promise! :) also, suggestions are always welcome :D **

**Songs: Shots - LMFAO feat. Lil' John and Thrift Shop - Macklemore **

**thanks for reading :D**


	6. The Breakfast Club

**A/N: hello everyone! sorry it took me so long but things were a little crazy! but I'm back :) and is long so I hope I make up for it! :D also, there are a lot of The Breakfast Club quotes in here cause well, I love that movie :D**

**Special thanks to kensare, RandomWriter23, Cece and Barbra234 for your amazing reviews :D**

**Disclaimer: I don't own big time rush :( or The Breakfast Club**

* * *

Kendall opened his eyes and saw the small girl still in his arms. He wondered at what point did they get this way but he honestly didn't care. Cadence seemed so… peaceful. He could stay there forever until he heard someone clearing his throat.

"Ahem" Kendall turned around to look at James standing there with the biggest smirk on his face. He motioned him to be quiet and pointed at the sleeping girl next to him, who happened to tight her arms around his waist when she felt him move. It took everything in him to get the strength to get up, carefully removing her arms from him and standing up. He grabbed James' arm and let him out of his room. "So, looks like things turned out pretty good after all" he said arching an eyebrow at his blonde friend.

"Shut up! You're gonna wake her" Kendall whispered. "And that's not what it looks like. We were up in the middle of the night and when we came back you were hogging the whole sofa" Kendall told him.

"Sure, so there was no other choice for you than to get into bed with her-"

"Don't say it like that" Kendall said upset. "Is not like that!"

"She has your jersey on! Your _favorite_ jersey!"

"She was cold!"

"Kendall, just admit you like Cadence already" James said before starting to walk down the stairs.

"I don't like Cadence! Not like that" he said stubbornly.

"Right, and I didn't make out with all three Jennifers last night" he said cocky.

"Did you?" Kendall asked smirking.

"Yeah" James said shrugging his shoulders.

"Dude!" Kendall said bumping their fists together.

"Don't change the subject though" James said mocking him.

"Look, I don't know like… what I feel about her ok?" he said honestly turning serious. "She's just… sort of… complex" he continued. "I mean, she's like fragile, I'm afraid I might break her or something-"

"Kendall have you met the girl? She looks like she could kick your ass and mine" James said widening his eyes. "…at the same time" he added. "…with one hand!"

"I know that" Kendall said rolling his eyes. "But I just feel like there's more you know? I don't know is confusing and it's sort of eating me alive" he said frustrated. "She saw me kiss Jo yesterday" he blurted out.

"You kissed Jo?" James asked confused.

"She kissed me" he said without any emotion. "She was drunk and she sort of threw herself at me and I don't know-"

"Do you want her back?"

"NO" he snapped a little too quickly. "No, it was stupid, I pushed her away but then, Cadence said she saw me."

"And what did she say?"

"She just asked me if we were back together but she seemed… sad" he said somewhat confused.

"Kendall?" both boys heard a voice coming from upstairs.

"Downstairs Cadence" James said smirking at his blonde friend.

"Shut up! This conversation never happened!" Kendall warned whispering to his taller friend.

"I'm not saying anything" James said innocently.

"Hey" Cadence said appearing from the stairs. James smiled at the girl standing there before turning his smirk back at Kendall who was close to drool over the girl standing in his clothes in front of him. "I uh, sort of got lost."

"Morning" James said smirking. "Coffee?" he asked with a little laugh when he saw her rubbing her eyes sleepily.

"Yes please" she said laughing too.

"Coming right up" James said walking towards the kitchen and the other two followed him. Kendall and Cadence turned to look at each other trying not to laugh when they remembered the mess they did the night before, until... "Who the hell drank my smoothie?"

"Kendall did" Cadence simply said.

"Cadence!" the blonde said turning around to look at her.

"Dude!" James said upset looking at Kendall.

"He also used your hair dryer" Cadence said as she poured coffee on her mug.

"Cadence!" Kendall said widening his eyes.

"Kendall!" James said furious. "You're making me a new one!"

"But I-" Kendall started looking back at Cadence who was trying really hard not to laugh.

"No buts dude!" James said mad. "I'm gonna go take a shower!" he said walking out of the kitchen.

"Cadence!" Kendall said turning to look at her. "You got me in trouble!" he said trying really hard to hide his laugh so he would make his point.

"Yeah, but you love me" she said looking up at him with innocent eyes. "Coffee?" she said offering him a mug. Kendall rolled his eyes and accepted the mug anyways. James might be right, but there was no way in hell he would let him know he was falling for this girl.

* * *

"Allright, not that I care, but how was everybody's weekend?" Miss Wainwright asked the class on Monday.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe we should ask Cadence" Jett said smirking at the girl on the front who rolled her eyes while Kendall glared at the stupid boy.

"Unless she kicked the crap out of your dumb butt, I don't wanna hear about it" Miss Wainwright said with a fake smile. Cadence smirked a little. Kelly Wainwright was one of the few, if not the only teacher who treated her nicely. And she was just plain awesome. "Ok everyone" Miss Wainwright told the whole class. "Today we are going to talk about something that some of you may still be sort of… unsure about" she said with a kind smile.

"Aliens?" James asked suddenly.

"Really, Prince Charming?" Cadence asked next to him.

"You don't think there's a form of intelligence out there?"

"I don't even see any form of intelligence here" she said looking at the jocks with some girls on the other side of the class and making James and Kendall laugh.

"Your future" Miss Wainwright continued writing the word 'Future' on the blackboard and Kendall saw Cadence tense up a little. "Where do you see yourselves in five years?" she said turning around to face the class. "Logan?" she said looking at the smart brunette in the front of the class.

"Um, I guess med school" he said a little shy.

"Nerd" Cadence heard someone cough on the back and Logan looked down blushing a little.

"Well, I guess you wanna pitch in the conversation Dak" Miss Wainwright said glaring a little at the boy in the back. "What is Mr. Zevon gonna be doing in five years?"

"Probably washing Dr. Mitchell's car" Cadence muttered a little too loud and earning a chuckle from Logan.

"I am gonna be famous" he said proudly.

"And how do you plan to get there? Maybe study acting in college-?"

"Miss Wainwright College is a waste of time. I just wanna be famous, plain and simple" Dak said flashing a smile and making all the girls around him giggle.

"We're also gonna have our own reality show" one of the Jennifers said.

"And become famous like the Kardashians" another Jennifer added.

"And party like the guys from Jersey Shore" the third one finished while Cadence looked wide-eyed at Kendall and mouthed 'wow' to him making him laugh.

"Ok, um, moving on" Miss Wainwright said walking over to her desk. "Miss Thomsen" she said looking for Cadence in the middle of the class and the black-haired girl turned to face her a little nervous. "Why don't you share with us your plans for the future, where are you gonna be in five years?"

"Probably jail again" Kendall heard Jo say from behind the class laughing and making the guys over there laugh too. He turned around to glare at them before he saw Cadence looking down at her desk.

"Miss Taylor, you either keep your bad comments to yourself or you can leave my class" Miss Wainwright snapped back at the blonde girl. Jo rolled her eyes annoyed but didn't say anything else. "Go ahead, Miss Thomsen" the teacher said politely looking back at the girl.

"Um, I don't really know" Cadence said nervously. She didn't like to be the center of attention.

"Come on Cadence, I'm sure there's always something you wanted to do with your life, what did you wanna be when you were a kid?"

"Um, I doubt that's the same thing I wanna do now" she said rolling her eyes.

"Why?" Miss Wainwright asked curious.

"Because when I was little I wanted to be a singer" she said laughing.

"Oh my God! That's been my dream ever since I was five!" James said shocked looking at the girl. "We are _so_ meant to be" he whispered in a raspy voice knowing just how jealous he was making his best friend.

"Seriously? You sing? You cannot tell me that you're not a Prince Charming from a Disney movie" Cadence told him trying not to laugh.

"I would if you're my princess" he said winking at her and slowly leaning his face closer to hers only to be stopped by her hand.

"Keep on dreaming, darling" she said laughing completely oblivious to Kendall's jealous face.

"So, why did that dream change Cadence? You could still become a singer" Miss Wainwright said smiling at the girl.

"I don't think so" the girl said looking away and Kendall saw her blush a little.

"Why not?" the teacher kept on pushing.

"I haven't sing in a long time" Cadence said frustrated that she wasn't letting go.

"You sang for our project" Logan suddenly decided to intervene.

"No, I didn't" Cadence said widening her eyes warningly at the boy. Kendall remembered that voice. It was the most beautiful voice he had ever heard. How could he not get that it was Cadence's. Even if the voice sounded sad, it sounded beautiful.

"Was that really you?" Cadence turned around to see who had asked that question and saw Camille looking at her, waiting for an answer.

"You heard her?" she saw Jo asking the brunette girl.

"Everybody in that class did" the girl defended herself.

"Please, I'm sure nerd Logan did something with the sound effects for it to sound good" Jo said leaning against her seat and crossing her arms.

"No, I didn't! She has an amazing voice!" Logan defended her.

"No, I don't!" Cadence said warning the brunette again. "I really don't" she said looking at her teacher who was now interested and curious about the girl's singing.

"Well, why don't you give us a demonstration?" the teacher asked amused looking at the girl in the middle of the class.

"Um, I don't really think that's a good idea-" the girl rambled a little panicky not really wanting to sing in front of people.

"See? Is obvious she can't sing! How could anything good come from a criminal?"

"Miss Taylor, second warning" Miss Wainwright said glaring at the blonde along with Kendall and James glaring at her too. Kendall turned to look at Cadence who now looked like she was fuming red. She stood up and he thought she was gonna run out of the class but she stopped in front of the class.

"Fine! You want me to sing, I'll sing" she said crossing her arms and defiantly throwing daggers at the people in the back.

"What are you singing? The Big Dollhouse?" it was Jett this time that threw the question.

Kendall was holding the edge of his seat so he wouldn't stand up and punch the guy right there. Cadence turned to glare at the back one more time before walking over to James and asked if she could borrow his iPod. She went up to the front again and then Kendall heard it. They all heard it.

_She's just a girl, and she's on fire  
__Hotter than a fantasy, lonely like a highway  
__She's living in a world, and it's on fire  
__Feeling the catastrophe, but she knows she can fly away_

_Oh, she got both feet on the ground  
__And she's burning it down  
__Oh, she got her head in the clouds  
__And she's not backing down_

_This girl is on fire  
__This girl is on fire  
__She's walking on fire  
__This girl is on fire_

The whole class stared at the girl in shock. Maybe except for Logan who already knew the girl's talent but promised her he wouldn't say anything for some reason. Cadence kept on singing the song while looking at everyone with the most defiant look on her face. It was as if she was proving a point besides the fact that she could sing.

_Looks like a girl, but she's a flame  
__So bright, she can burn your eyes  
__Better look the other way  
__You can try but you'll never forget her name  
__She's on top of the world  
__Hottest of the hottest girls say_

_Oh, we got our feet on the ground  
__And we're burning it down  
__Oh, got our head in the clouds  
__And we're not coming down_

_This girl is on fire  
__This girl is on fire  
__She's walking on fire  
__This girl is on fire_

Kendall was too focused on the girl to even blink. He could not believe how this girl had lived in his house for about three weeks now and he had no idea that she could sing like this. It made him realize just how little he knew about Cadence. The girl looked like she was singing with everything she could. Like she was actually feeling the words of the song.

_Everybody stands, as she goes by  
__Cause they can see the flame that's in her eyes  
__Watch her when she's lighting up the night  
__Nobody knows that she's a lonely girl  
__And it's a lonely world  
__But she gon' let it burn, baby, burn, baby_

Cadence took a deep breath and for some reason, her eyes landed on Kendall. Maybe she wanted to prove that she could do something more than just to get herself in trouble. She was worth something, for some reason she wanted Kendall to think she was worth something. She didn't want him to look at her like everybody else did. She knew he didn't but she was sort of scared at some point he would.

_This girl is on fire  
__This girl is on fire  
__She's walking on fire  
__This girl is on fire  
__Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh_

_She's just a girl, and she's on fire_

Once Cadence was done, the whole class stared at her in awe. She saw Logan smirking from the front row, turned around to look at James who was looking at her with his famous flashing smile on his face, then she took a look at everyone in the back where she saw Camille with a small smile, Dak and Jett with their mouths hanging open and Jo with her face red with anger. Miss Wainwright was smiling proudly at the girl and then, her eyes landed on Kendall. The blonde boy was looking shocked at her and she couldn't help but to smirk a little proud of herself before walking to her seat without anyone saying anything until Miss Wainwright spoke up.

"Wow, Cadence, that was…" she started still a little shocked. "That was amazing" she said smiling.

"Thanks" Cadence trying not to smile wider and hoping no one would notice the red on her cheeks.

"Ok, so, moving on" Miss Wainwright said walking over to the other side of the class. Kendall couldn't take his eyes off Cadence though. The girl just sat there sinking deeper on her seat and looking sadly at her desk. Before he knew it, the bell rang and it was time to leave. Everyone in class started grabbing their stuff and getting ready to leave. "Um, Miss Thomsen may I have a word with you?" Miss Wainwright said just about as Cadence was gonna head out of class. Cadence nodded silently and stood back while everyone else left… Kendall being dragged by James.

"Is something wrong?" Cadence asked once everyone was out.

"No, Cadence, nothing's wrong" Miss Wainwright said with a kind smile. "I just wanted to talk to you about what happened just now-"

"Look, I know that um well I wasn't supposed to just walk over there and sing but Jo was really getting on my last nerve and I just-"

"Cadence, you're not in trouble" Miss Wainwright said with a little chuckle. "I actually wanted to tell you that I thought you were really good and that, if singing is something you might like to pursue" she said getting something form her drawer. "These are some schools that you can apply to" she said handing her some flyers from different schools. Cadence grabbed them and looked at her with an arched eyebrow.

"You didn't randomly choose me, did you?" she asked a little skeptical.

"Wow, he's right, you are really smart" she said with a smile.

"He? Who's he?"

"Dr. Reid-"

"Wait, you _spoke_ to Reid?" she asked a little upset. "When? H-how did you-? Ok, what the hell just happened?"

"He called the school saying that he thought it would be good for you if you enroll in extracurricular activities but he also said you would be too stubborn to actually do it, so we both thought you needed a little push-"

"A little push? Where? Why are you two even assuming that-"

"To wherever you wanna go" she said simply. "Weather is singing or well, whatever you want to do. Cadence, I know you feel like there's no way out of here or you might be a little unsure about what to do in the future, but we can help you find a way to get your life back if you want. You may feel like nobody cares but there are some people that do" she explained while she grabbed her stuff and stood up walking towards the door.

"Why would you want to help me?" Cadence asked confused. Miss Wainwright smiled softly at her and answered.

"There are a lot of great people who have jerks for parents, we gotta stick together" she said winking at her and smiling before she walked out the door leaving the girl behind looking at the flyers in he hand.

* * *

Kendall was walking down the halls looking for Cadence. He hadn't seen her since class and he really wanted to talk to her. He made his way over to her locker and when he got there, he saw the words 'Go Back To Jail' written all over it. He felt this pang of guilt on his stomach and his heart ache a little. How could people be so mean?

"Get back here, I'm not done young lady" Kendall saw Cadence walking at the end of the hallway and saw Principal Griffin walking after her. She rolled her eyes and turned around to look at him with her arms crossed.

"Anything else?" she said with a bored expression in her face.

"Yes. Detention, today after school" he said in a serious tone.

"Would that be all?"

"You can change your attitude while you're at it" Principal Griffin said getting more upset. "Unless you would like to buy yourself more detention-"

"Well, I'm free tomorrow and probably the day after... beyond that, I'm gonna have to check my calendar" Cadence said sounding annoyed.

"Good! Cause it's gonna be filled, we'll keep going if that's what you want. Instead of going to prison, you'll come here!" he said as he started raising his voice. Kendall felt his blood boiling. How did he have the nerve to talk to a girl like that? "Detention. Today. 4:30. Don't be late. Is that clear Miss Thomsen?"

"Crystal" Cadence said with a bold look.

"Good. Have a nice day" Principal Griffin said smiling before he turned around and walked away.

"Bite me" Cadence muttered annoyed and Kendall made his way over to her.

"Cadence?"

"What?" she snapped at him before realizing who it was. "Sorry" she said still upset.

"What happened? Are you ok?" he wasn't mad. He sounded concerned.

"That jerk gave me detention" she said walking over to her locker.

"Why?"

"He saw my cigarettes-"

"You were smoking?" Kendall asked getting a little upset.

"I WASN'T SMOKING!" Cadence yelled frustrated before sighting. "Ugh sorry! This day just sucks, I didn't really sleep well last night!" she said opening her locker and putting her books inside and slamming the door shut.

"What do you mean? Why? Is everything ok?" Kendall asked concerned. And then, he saw it. Cadence turned to look at him and he saw how tired she looked.

"I don't know" she said shrugging her shoulders. That was a lie. She knew why. She just didn't want to say it out loud. She didn't want to admit that ever since James' party, she couldn't really sleep ok. Why? Because of the blonde boy standing in front of her.

"So, if you weren't smoking, how did he see your cigarettes?"

"Wait, you believe me?" she asked somewhat surprised.

"Well, yeah" Kendall simply said. "Why wouldn't I?"

"He didn't!" Cadence said pointing at the direction Principal Griffin left. "Nobody ever does" she said looking at the floor.

"Why don't you tell me what happened?" Kendall asked softly.

"Well, I _was_ gonna go out and smoke" she started. "Don't look at me like that! I'm not stupid ok? I don't do it on school grounds!" she said when she saw Kendall's look on her. "Anyways I was walking outside and… I couldn't find my lighter so, I was coming back because I wanted to eat something instead and as I was about to put my cigarettes away, I tripped and I dropped them and he saw them" she explained. "So, he started talking about how much I was a burden to society and my attitude sucks and I'm never gonna get anywhere in life and then he gave me detention" she finished.

"Why were you gonna smoke?" Kendall asked in a surprisingly calmed tone.

"Huh?" Cadence asked confused. She expected a whole lecture about smoking and getting detention.

"Why were you gonna smoke? You only smoke when you're upset or nervous, right?"

"Wait, how do you know that?"

"You told me, remember?"

"S-so, you were really listening?" she asked surprised. Is not like anyone would listen to her, unless it was Reid. Kendall nodded lightly and Cadence sighted. "Um, could we just go outside or something? I'm hungry" she said softly.

"Sure" Kendall said nodding and they both made their way outside. Once they got out, they sat on a bench and Cadence grabbed her bag to take out the brownies Mrs. Knight had packed for them. "Well?"

Cadence sighted again, knowing there was no way to avoid this conversation. "I was upset about the class earlier" she said not facing Kendall.

"Why were you upset?" he asked a little confused. "You were amazing!"

Cadence turned around to face him trying not to blush. "Y-you really think so?" she asked trying to hide her smile.

"Are you kidding me? Cadence, you have a beautiful voice!"

"Um, th-thanks, I guess" she said awkwardly laughing a little. "Uh, anyways Miss Wainwright wanted to talk to me after class" she continued. "She said she talked to Dr. Reid and she gave me these" she said taking the flyers out of her bag.

"So, you would like to give this singing thing a try?"

"No fucking way Blondie" Cadence chuckled with her mouth full of brownies. Kendall laughed a little at how cute she looked.

"Why not?"

"Kendall, be realistic, do you expect me to get into a fancy ass school and graduate from there? And then I'm gonna become famous? Life doesn't work that way Kendall. At least not for people like me" she said having another bite.

"Cadence maybe Miss Wainwright could help you, or Dr. Reid, and you could get into any of this schools-"

"No" she said sadly. "I'm done singing, I just sang to prove Barbie that she's an idiot and to piss her off" she said with a sarcastic laugh. "Look, even if I try to have a future, I wouldn't even know how to get there" she said with a sad smile. Kendall was about to say something when they heard the bell ring. "Um, I gotta go" she said grabbing her stuff and putting it inside her bag. "I can't be late for math or I'll get more detention" she said getting up leaving the blonde boy with the flyers still in his hand.

* * *

"Are you stalking me?" Cadence asked once she entered detention and saw a familiar tall brunette sitting there in the middle of the library.

"What if I was princess?" James said smirking at her.

"What are you doing here?"

"Miss Collins caught me skipping class" he said rolling his eyes. "You?"

"Principal Griffin caught me smoking" she said shrugging her shoulders and taking the seat next to him when she noticed someone else walking in.

"Shocking" she heard James mutter sarcastically under his breath while Carlos Garcia made his way to seat a little further from the pair. He sat down and put his iPod on. "So, how bad did Kendall freak out when you told him you got detention?"

"Actually, not as much as I thought he would- Kendall?" she turned shocked to look at the door while Kendall made his way inside the library.

"Dude, _you_ got detention?" James said with a little smirk.

"Shut up!" Kendall said a little mad and sitting next to Cadence.

"Oh my God! Am I rubbing off on you?" Cadence said trying not to laugh. "Why are you here?"

"None of your business" he said annoyed.

"Does your mom know you're here?" James asked him.

"Yeah" Kendall said getting a little nervous. Cadence and James turned to look at each other smirking.

"Can I borrow your phone?" Cadence asked him.

"W-why?" he said getting a little nervous.

"Your parents always told me to call them if I was gonna be late, so I have tell your mom I'm here and I'm with you so they won't-"

"Ok, fine! She may think that we're _both_ at James' working on a project" he said rolling his eyes.

"Wow, detention _and_ lying? Welcome to the dark side Kenny, we have cookies" Cadence said smirking.

"Shut up!" he said annoyed.

"Seriously, is there something more shocking than the almighty Kendall in detention?" James asked still laughing.

"Yeah… that" Cadence said pointing at the door as the boys turned around and watch Logan Mitchell walking inside the door.

"Logan?" Kendall said shocked.

"What'd you do to get in here? Got a B+, nerd?" James said laughing a little.

"Hey shut up!" Cadence said glaring a little at him. "Leave him alone" she said upset.

"Ok children!" they were all interrupted when Mr. Bitters entered the classroom. "You are now in detention, it is 4:33 which means you have exactly one hour and 57 minutes to sit here" he practically yelled at the guys. "There will be no iPods" he said taking the earplugs off Carlos' ears and confiscating the iPod. "No phones" he said taking away Logan's phone. "No food" he said taking away Kendall's Doritos. "No combs!" he said grabbing James' comb while the brunette was using it.

"Dude!"

"And no books!" he said taking Cadence's open book from her hand.

"What? That's a healthy kind of fun!" the girl complained.

"Not with you girls and your 50 Shades of Grey things!" he said grabbing all the other phones.

"That's Harry Potter!" Cadence whined.

"NO TALKING MISSY!" Mr. Bitters yelled at them.

"So, we're… just supposed to sit here?" Kendall asked confused.

"THAT'S RIGHT!" he yelled at them again. "Now, I'm going to be right outside those doors. If I have to come in here for any reason...I'm cracking skulls!" he yelled before he made his way out slamming the door shut and leaving the five teenagers sitting in silence.

"Well, well… here we are" Cadence said smiling mockingly at the four boys that surrounded her.

"What?" James asked confused.

"Oh, come on! You can't tell me you don't see the similarities" she said laughing.

"What are you talking about?" Kendall asked even more confused.

"Well, Mr. Knight we find out that each one of us is a brain…" she said pointing at Logan. "and an athlete…" she continued pointing at Carlos. "a basket case" she said pointing at Kendall who glared at her a little offended. "a princess…" she said pointing at James.

"Hey!" the brunette complained.

"Or prince" Cadence said rolling her eyes. "and a criminal" she finished pointing at herself.

"What on earth are you talking about?"

"It's the Breakfast Club" Carlos said rolling his eyes speaking for the first time. "Is a movie about this five guys who don't really like each other. They get detention and they're best friends by the end of the day" he explained when the other three boys looked at him a little confused.

"Well Sporto, you're not as dumb as I thought you were" Cadence said smiling at him.

"I am not a basket case!" Kendall complained.

"Hey, I would give you criminal but I'm assuming the worst thing you've done in your life is getting detention today and lying to your mommy about it" Cadence said laughing. Kendall opened his mouth to protest but closed it not really knowing what to say and Cadence rolled her eyes.

"Would you guys be quiet! Mr. Bitters is gonna hear us!" Logan said a little nervous.

"Oh please, that man is a brownie hound" Cadence said laughing. "Plus, there's _nothing_ else to do here" she said getting up and sitting on the desk on the front of the class, facing the four boys. "Soooooo… were you guys like besties?" she asked smirking a little. "You know, best friends?" she asked smiling wider while the boys just sort of avoided each other. "Loveeeeeers?"

"Cadence, shut up" Kendall said rolling his eyes.

"Oh, come on! What happened to the fantastic 4?"

"How do you even know we were friends?" Carlos asked confused.

"Lucky guess" she said smirking. "Come on guys, level with me? This is _really_ boring, there's nothing else to do here" she said rolling her eyes.

"We could progress in our homework, quietly" Logan suggested. The other four teenagers simply turned to look at him. "It was just a suggestion" he said widening his eyes.

"Ok, anyone's got more suggestions?" Cadence said to stop the awkward silence.

"Yeah, you could go back to your seat so we don't get into any more trouble" Carlos told the girl.

"Young man, have you finished your paper?" Cadence said laughing.

"Stop quoting The Breakfast Club!"

"Don't yell at her!" Kendall snapped at Carlos.

"Stay out of this Knight!" Carlos said getting up. "I have a match on Saturday and I'm not gonna let any of you idiots make me miss it! So shut up before Mr. Bitters hears us!"

"You gonna make me?" Kendall said getting up too and walking over to Carlos.

"Yeah!"

"You and how many of your friends?"

"Just me, just you and me" Carlos said with venom in his voice. "Two hits. Me hitting you, you hitting the floor!"

"Ok, that's enough girl talk" Cadence said standing in the middle of the guys who were throwing daggers at each other.

"Kendall, he's not even worth it" James said rolling his eyes from his seat while he fixed his hair with his hands.

"Why do you have to insult everyone?" Logan suddenly snapped from his seat.

"I'm being honest asshole! I would expect _you_ to know the difference!"

"Ok, guys, is obvious I touched a nerve here… can we just move on?" Cadence said getting a little nervous not knowing if she should get Carlos away from Kendall or James away from Logan first. "Let's just all calm down and… goosfraba" she said breathing in and out.

"Is everything a joke to you?" Carlos snapped a little at her.

"90% of stuff" Cadence replied not feeling intimidated by the boy.

"Just ignore her" Logan advised the Latino boy who was clearly letting Cadence get to him.

"Sweets" Cadence said getting Logan's attention. "You couldn't ignore me, if you tried" she said smirking.

"Cadence, seriously, you're gonna get us into more trouble" Logan said with pleading eyes.

"Please, Mr. Bitters is probably asleep in his office" she said rolling her eyes. "…nothing to do when you're locked in a vacancy" she sighted bored, flicking her hair back.

"Speak for yourself" Carlos said taking his seat back.

"You think I'd speak for you? I don't even know your language" she said with a little chuckle. "So… new subject… why is everyone here?"

"Why are you here?" Logan asked.

"Got caught smoking" she said shrugging her shoulders and she heard Carlos snort. "Am I amusing you, Sporto? Why are you here?"

"None of your business" he muttered under his breath.

"Oh, come on, we're all bonding here" she said mocking him. "I told you why I'm here" she said with a little smirk and Carlos rolled his eyes. So she turned to Kendall. "Kendall, why are you here?"

"Cadence" Kendall said annoyed.

"Yes, what in the world did the almighty Kendall Knight do to get here?" Carlos said suddenly interested in the talk.

"Why does everyone keep saying that?" Kendall asked irritated.

"Well, you gotta admit that out of all of us, you're de least likely to end up in here… after Logan" James said laughing a little.

"Hey!" the shorter brunette complained and everyone turned around to look at him.

"Really?" Cadence simply asked Logan who glared at her a little.

"Is not like I'm some goody two-shoes like Logan!" Kendall defended himself.

"Oh, please, you're barely there" Cadence said rolling her eyes.

"Hey!" Kendall complained.

"Seriously, can you guys not see me?" Logan asked offended

"So, what did you to do get in here?" Cadence asked with her eyes lighting up with curiosity.

"None of your business" they both answered at the same time before glaring at each other for talking at the same time.

"Wow, you guys are really boring" Cadence said walking back to her seat.

"Oh my God!" they heard James yelled suddenly. "I need my comb! My hair is a mess!" he said still trying to fix it with his hands.

"You still use that stupid comb?" Carlos asked rolling his eyes along with Kendall and Logan.

"You call that hair a mess?" Cadence asked with a confused look on her face and running her hands through her hair.

"DON'T mess with me woman!" James glared a little at her.

"Ugh, relax princess" Cadence grabbing her bag. She opened her bag and started getting stuff out of it. The four boys observed as the girl took item after item out, until she got frustrated and turned her bag upside down dumping all the contents out of her bag.

"Wow, you're a slob" James said holding back a laugh.

"What the hell is all that shit?" Carlos asked as shocked as the rest of them.

"Sorry, my maid's on vacation" Cadence said smiling sarcastically at him while she looked for something. "Here princess" she said handing James a hairbrush.

"This is a _hairbrush_" James said taking it as if the thing was toxic.

"Wow, that's quite an observation" Cadence said smiling sarcastically.

"I use a _comb_" he told her as if she was an idiot.

Cadence let out a chuckle. "Fine your majesty, then you can walk around with your hair all messy for all I care-" she said grabbing the hairbrush back.

"Give me that!" James said upset snapping the brush out of her hand and grabbing a pocket mirror he found on the floor with the rest of Cadence's stuff.

"I can't believe you still use that comb" Carlos said rolling his eyes.

"Whatever! Is better than your stupid helmet!" James argued not taking his eyes off his reflection in the mirror and out of nowhere he grabbed a can of spray and started applying a little too much all over the place.

"Dude! Ozone Layer!" Logan said coughing and waving his hand to get the spray away.

"Look at yourself! Who's handsomer than you?" James said talking into the mirror, ignoring Logan's protests. "No one!" he answered himself.

"Is he really talking to the mirror?" Cadence asked Kendall with a weird look.

"Yeah, James does that" Kendall said trying not to laugh. "He does that a lot" he said while James sprayed his hair all over again.

"What the hell is that?" Cadence said coughing again.

"Bear 'a' Cuda man spray" James said in a deeper voice.

"He did not just say that" Cadence said trying really hard not to laugh.

"You think that's funny? You should've seen him when he used Cuda's Mangerine Spray" Logan said laughing and making Kendall and Carlos burst out into laugh too.

"Oh my God! You were orange for like a week!" Carlos said laughing even harder.

"Shut up! You were all just jealous because of my awesome tan" James whined.

"You looked like a giant oompa loompa" Kendall said making the other two boys laugh even harder. Cadence smiled silently as she watched the four of them laughing as if they were still best friends. it was funny how they could go from wanting to beat each other up to making fun of each other so fast.

"Whatever! It was better than when Carlos tried to be a Jennifer" James said rolling his eyes. Kendall and Logan started laughing even harder but Carlos stopped and glared at James.

"What? You tried to be a Jennifer?" Cadence said laughing too.

"Is not what it sounds like" Carlos defended himself.

"Is _exactly_ what it sounds like" Logan said between laughs.

"Shut up _Hortense_!" Carlos said glaring at him and Logan stopped laughing abruptly and blushed a little.

"Your name is Hortense?" Cadence said turning to look at him. "H-how did that happen?" she said laughing.

"My mom said she didn't like his name and changed it to Logan" James said laughing a little too.

"I don't get it, why would you let _James'_ mom change your name? You could've said no" she said and the four boys gasped at the same time.

"You don't say no to James' mom" Kendall said freaking out as if she was gonna hear them.

"You just don't do it" James said widening his eyes while the other two shook his head.

"You're kidding, right?" Cadence said laughing but the boys kept on shaking their heads. "Um, o…k?"

"Seriously, and is even worse since my dad married someone like twenty-five years old" he continued.

"Yeah? I don't blame her!" Cadence said rolling her eyes.

"Oh please, he's just being a big baby! Stop whining about your parents Diamond! They give you everything you want! Even if it means passing over other people in order for their little Jaime to be fine" Carlos said all of the sudden.

"Shut the hell up Carlos! You have no fucking idea what you're talking about!" James snapped upset.

"Who do you like better?" Cadence asked all of the sudden, not wanting the boys to start fighting again since they started to get along.

"What?" James asked confused.

"Do you like your dad better than your mom?"

"They both sort of suck" he simply said.

"No, I mean, if you had to choose between them" she continued.

"I don't know. I mean, I don't think either one of them gives a shit about me" he said suddenly. "Is like they just use me to get back at each other."

"Oh please, you're just feeling sorry for yourself!" Kendall said rolling his eyes.

"Well, if I didn't, no one else would!" he defended himself.

"Ow, you're breaking my heart" Carlos said rolling his eyes.

"Sporto" Cadence said and he turned to look at her. "You get along with your parents?"

"If I say yes, I'm an idiot, right?" he asked her.

"You're an idiot anyways" she told him. "But, if you say you get along with your parents, well, you're a liar too" she told him.

"You know what Cadence! Why don't you just mind your fucking business!"

"Hey guys!" Logan said trying to ease up the tension. Not only of Carlos snapping at Cadence, but trying to keep Kendall from punching Carlos for snapping at Cadence. "Come on, we've all been there, I mean, my home life is somewhat unsatisfying too" he tried.

"Well, everyone's home life is unsatisfying… if it wasn't, people would live with their parents forever" Cadence told them.

"Says the girl who lives in a foster home" Carlos muttered under his breath.

"OK THAT'S ENOUGH!" Kendall said furious getting up. He grabbed Carlos by the collar of his shirt and pulled him up. "Apologize to her" he said with venom in his voice.

"Kendall-" Cadence stood up, along with James and Logan and she tried to get him away from Carlos.

"Why? She's a bitch to everyone anyways! Even when people try to be nice to her" Carlos snapped back at Kendall.

"I swear Carlos-"

"You don't wanna get into this man" Carlos said with a cocky smirk.

"Kendall, let him go" Cadence told him. He turned around to look at her and saw that she was sort of… scared?

"Why not?" Kendall said trying really hard not to punch Carlos and letting him go instead pushing him a little.

"Cause I'd kill you" Carlos said cocky fixing his jacket. "It's real simple. I'd kill you and then your parents would sue me and it would be a big mess and I don't care enough about you to bother" he said walking away to sit down again.

"Right, as if Papi Garcia wouldn't get his kid out of trouble like nothing ever happened" James said rolling his eyes. Cadence noticed Carlos freeze before he turned around and threw daggers at James. He walked back to the taller brunette and pushed him making him fall on the floor.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Carlos asked with his voice full of hate.

"You know _exactly _what it means" James argued not even bothering to get up from his spot. "Wasn't your dad always the one who made sure _you'd_ stay out of trouble! Even if it meant throwing the rest of us under the bus!" he continued as Cadence saw Carlos fist his hands and saw him shake.

"Don't talk about my father" he said with his voice full of hate.

"You don't like it when it's the other way around, do you?"

"James, shut up" Cadence tried to tell him but he kept on going.

"No! He comes in here talks shit about everyone else and thinks he can do whatever he wants because even if the four of us would do something stupid, Carlos would get out of it without any trouble because his _papi_ would get him out of it!"

"Shut the fuck up Diamond" Carlos said with venom in his voice.

"What, are you gonna tell papi on me?" James kept on defying him. "That's why you're so fucking immature Carlos! Because you never took responsibility for what you did! My parents may spoil me, but I always got grounded if we got in trouble! And so did Kendall and Logan, but noooooo, weather it was throwing rotten eggs at the wrestling team, or wrapping a house with toilet paper or wow, it didn't matter if we light up a mailbox, because Carlitos, _always_ got away with it! Is not like you ever got grounded! The only place where you get grounded is here! In school! I'm surprised he didn't get you out of this detention!"

"What!?" Carlos snapped upset, making his way to James and kneeling down to his level.

"Did I stutter?" James said defiantly.

"Then what the fuck is this? Huh?" Carlos said lifting up his left sleeve and revealing a big mark on his arm. "It's about the size of a cigar...Do I stutter? See, this is what you get in my house for spilling paint in the garage" Carlos said between gritted teeth shoving his arm in front of James' face. Carlos was so mad, Cadence thought he was gonna punch James. The brunette boy was just looking away not really wanting to face Carlos and everyone remained quiet, not really knowing what to say. "See I don't think that I need to sit here with you fuckin' assholes anymore!"

He stormed out to the back of the library and they heard some books being thrown at the ground.

"You shouldn't have said that" Cadence said quietly glaring at James a little.

"How was I supposed to know-?"

"Then you just keep your fucking mouth shut!" Cadence snapped at him.

"Do you think someone should go check on him?" Logan asked a little concerned and the three boys turned to look at Cadence.

"Fine!" she said rolling her eyes. "You guys are jerks" she said standing up and walking over to where Carlos had gone.

"She's right" Kendall said to the other two once she was out of sight.

Cadence made her way to the other side of the library looking for Carlos and found him sitting in a lonely aisle against a bookshelf.

"I have been chosen, probably because I'm numb to other people's feelings, to come here and see if you're ok" Cadence said walking over to Carlos who turned to glare a little at her. "Ok, fine, I volunteered" she said sitting down next to him.

"Why?" he asked with a bitter voice.

Cadence sighted a little nervous. "Carlos, if I tell you something, would you promise not to tell anyone?"

"Who would I tell? The three idiots in there that were supposed to be my best friends, or my asshole supposedly friends who just beat the shit out of me for standing up for Logan-" he stopped talking abruptly.

"What? Is that why you're in detention?" Cadence asked confused.

"Yeah" Carlos said not facing her. "I snapped and I punched David and well… the coach saw me…"

"Well, I don't know if this is worth something coming from me but… that was sort of… nice of you" she said a little awkward.

"Yeah, you're probably the only one who'd think that" he said harshly.

"Um, Carlos" Cadence said after an awkward silence. "I've sort of, um… known about your dad for a while" she said as calmly as she could.

"What?!" Carlos asked a little mad. "H-how did you-?

"Well, I had a hunch really. I mean, I didn't talk to anybody but serial killer profilers for over a year, so I guess you sort of pick some things up" she told him. "I kind of saw the look on your face when Max pushed me" she explained. "But um, I sort of knew for sure when you apologized at James' party… and you wanted me to _know_ you wouldn't hurt a girl" she said sadly. Carlos remained silent and Cadence sighted in defeat. "Plus, I guess, it's um… easier to read the signs when… you've… sort of… been through that" she said quietly, hoping Carlos didn't hear her. But he did. He turned around to look at her but she was looking at the ground.

"W-wait, you mean… y-your dad" Carlos asked a little nervous and Cadence just nodded.

"Yeah" she said sadly. Carlos felt his heart aching for the girl sitting next to him.

"Does- um. Does Kendall know?"

"I know you guys aren't stupid. I mean, you all must know there's a reason why I live with the Knights and not back at home after I got out of jail" she said quietly. "But you're the first person I've told" she said looking down.

"Why did you tell me?"

"I don't know" she answered shrugging her shoulders and facing him for the first time. She really didn't know why. She just felt like it was better if she told someone who would somehow understand. "There are a lot of great people who have jerks for parents, we gotta stick together" she repeated what Miss Wainwright told her with a small smile.

Carlos just smiled softly at her. "Thanks."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah" he said a little nervous.

"Do you… um- do you let him hit you… so he won't hit your mom?"

"Sort of like that" Carlos replied sadly.

"You know, you should tell someone-"

"Cadence, you heard what James said" he told her. "My dad can make anything go away as if nothing ever happened" he said bitterly. "He's kind of a big deal at the police station."

"Your dad's a cop?" Cadence asked shocked and Carlos nodded. "Well, um, you could still like, I don't know, talk to the Knights, or Logan's parents-"

"What for?" he asked a little harsh.

"Carlos" she said turning to face him with a serious look in her eyes. "I didn't do anything and… it was too late to save my mom" she said sadly. "But you can still save yours" she told him and she swore she saw his eyes fill with tears but he faced down.

"I'll think about it" he told her. "Could you um… just not tell anyone?" he asked nervous.

"One condition" she told him and he nodded. "If it gets like… too bad, you let me take care of your bruises" she told him. "Or Logan, I mean, he's gonna be a doctor, that's probably a better idea" she told him making him let out the tiniest laugh.

"What makes you think Logan would want to help me?"

"Come on! You guys miss each other" she said with a small smile.

"How would you even know that?"

"I saw it" she said still smiling. "You guys looked really happy when you were talking about memories of you guys being friends" she told him. He didn't answer he just smiled back at her.

"Come on" he said standing up and offering her his hand to help her stand up. "Let's get back there before they kill each other" he said as she stood up.

"Yeah, if they haven't already" she said laughing along with him and they made their way back to the other three.

"JAMES! Get off Logan!" Kendall said trying to separate them. "Little help?" he said looking at Carlos and Cadence. Carlos rolled his eyes and walked over to pull Logan off James while Kendall pulled James but they ended up getting into the fight too.

"Guys!" Cadence tried but the four boys just kept on wrestling. "GUYS!" nothing. Cadence put her fingers into her mouth and whistled really loud. That caught the boys' attention. "Shut up before you wake up Bitters!" she yelled and the four boys turned to glare at each other. "What the hell happened?" she regretted asking that immediately because each one of them started an explanation at the same time and she couldn't really understand what was happening. "SHUT UP! God! Do you guys always fight for no apparent reason?" Cadence asked and the four remained silent. "Look, I don't know what the hell happened between you four and you're clearly not going to tell me but you wanna know something, you four are the only decent people I've met in this school and just when you were making fun of James for being an oompa loompa, or Carlos being a Jennifer or Logan being Hortense, it looked like… well… it would've been really cool to meet you guys as friends" she said shrugging her shoulders. "Cause you four are pretty cool" she told them. She stood there facing the boys in front of her and Kendall sighted.

"Guys, she's right" he said walking away from the boys and standing next to Cadence, facing his former friends.

"Oh, no. I smell speech" Carlos said annoyed.

"I hate that smell" Logan said.

"I hate _you_" James whispered to Logan.

"Guys come on! This has been going on long enough! I mean, Carlos, who was the one who tutored you for algebra and math so you wouldn't fail?"

Carlos looked down sadly and answered. "Logan."

"And Logan, who was the one who beat the crap out of the wrestling team when you insulted them in Latin?"

"James" Logan said eyeing James before looking down.

"And James, who was the one who ran to the store in the middle of a snowstorm just to get you your Bear 'a' Cuda man spray, because you ran out of it?"

"Carlos did" James said rolling his eyes.

"Guys, we've been best friends since forever! Are you really gonna let all go just for some stupid fight?"

"So what, you guys are just gonna like be friends with me again? And not beat the shit out of me anymore? Yeah, as if your 'friends' would like that" Logan said a little resentful.

"Well, actually, I don't have any friends… anymore" Carlos said putting his hand on the back of his head.

"What do you mean?" Kendall asked him.

"I'm in detention because I snapped and punched David for saying stupid things about you" he said pointing at Logan. "And the coach saw me."

"W-why would you do that?" Logan said with a little smile.

"I don't know" Carlos said shrugging his shoulders. "I guess I never stopped seeing you guys as my friends" he told them.

"I'm not sure we have real friends either" James said suddenly. "Sorry Logie" he said apologetically looking at Logan.

"It's ok" Logan said shrugging his shoulders. "I never stopped seeing you guys as my friends either" he told them.

"So, we're friends again?" Kendall asked arching his eyebrow. Cadence saw the four boys flash a smile before they burst out laughing.

"Oh for the love of God! Just hug already!: Cadence said rolling her eyes. The guys laughed a little before they actually did. "Ow, that's adorable" she said pretending to cry.

"Um Carlos" James said turning serious again. "A-about that mark in your arm-"

"Don't" Carlos simply said.

"No um, I'm sorry" James told him.

"How could you not tell us?" Kendall asked him sadly.

"What was I supposed to say? We weren't friends anymore" he told them.

"Well, we are now" Logan told him.

"I don't know if I'm ready to talk about it yet" Carlos simply said.

"Just promise us that if you need anything… you'll tell us?" Cadence said knowing the other three wouldn't stop asking until Carlos gave in and she knew he wasn't ready to do that.

"Deal" he said with a small smile. "Thanks."

"Well, let's get out of here! Detention's over losers!" Cadence said picking up all of her stuff from the floor and putting them back on her bag. Kendall, Carlos and Logan started to make their way out, looking for Mr. Bitters so they could get their stuff back.

"Here" James said handing her the hairbrush and the mirror and Cadence noticed something she didn't before.

"Why are your hands red?"

"Uh, th-they're not" James said quickly putting his hands away.

"James?" Cadence said with an arched eyebrow. James sighted defeated and looked at her.

"Is not a big deal" he started saying.

"Did you clean my locker?" she asked with a small smile. She had noticed the new words when she talked to Kendall. "Is that why you got detention?" she asked confused.

"I _was_ skipping math and well, I saw it and I went to get Logan so he would help me clean it cause I know he did it the last time-"

"Wait, is that why you and Logan got detention? LOGAN!"

Logan appeared in the room again with a confused look. "Yes?"

"I know why you got detention" Cadence said smiling.

"James!" Logan said annoyed to the taller boy and James sighted rolling his eyes.

"Miss Collins caught us and she didn't care why we were skipping she just-" James stopped talking when he felt the small girl's arms wrap around his waist.

"Thank you" she said looking up at him before pulling away and hugging Logan. "You guys are really sweet" she told them before she started walking out the door.

"Wait, um Cadence" James stopped her. She turned around and looked at them.

"Yes?"

"Kendall told us why he was in detention" he told her.

"James! We said we wouldn't tell her-" Logan got stopped when Cadence pulled him by the collar of his shirt.

"Speak" she said in a threateningly tone.

* * *

"So, did you guys finish your project?" Mrs. Kinght asked during dinner.

"Yeah" Kendall and Cadence answered at the same time.

"What was it about?" Katie asked smirking.

"The environment" Cadence said as Kendall said; "The economy."

Mr. and Mrs. Knight turned to look at them with a confused look.

"Um, it was about how to uh, how to have um a better economy without jeopardizing the environment" Cadence said knowing Kendall wasn't that good at lying.

"Wow, that sounds interesting" Mr. Knight said.

"Tell us more about it" Katie said smiling innocently and Cadence turned to look at her with a nervous smile.

"Well, actually there's this um video that explains…" she started rambling about this video she remembered that included the environment and how it was all a global economic disaster.

Kendall looked shocked at the girl and how easily she could get out of trouble. If he was scared having a little sister that did that, he was screwed having another girl in his house that was his sister's match. After dinner was done, Katie and Mrs. Knight went to do the dishes, not before Katie bragged her brother $10 to keep quiet because she knew the two teenagers were lying.

"Thanks" she said smiling sweetly before going to the kitchen.

"Your sister is gonna go a long way" Cadence told Kendall with a little laugh.

"That's what I'm afraid of" Kendall told her as they went to the living room. "Do you wanna watch a movie?"

"Um, sure" Cadence said smiling.

"I haven't seen this one in a while" he said grabbing one of the DVDs.

"Th-the Shining?" Cadence asked trying not to seem so nervous.

"Yeah" Kendall said turning to look at her. "You haven't seen it?"

"I um, I read the book" she answered grabbing her glasses and putting them on.

"And you never saw the movie?" Kendall asked as they got comfortable on the couch. Cadence shook her head. "Why not?"

"Well, um, I don't know-"

"Are you scared?"

"What? You're kidding, right?" she said letting out a nervous laugh and Kendall smirked at her. "Press play Knight!"

Kendall watched Cadence throughout the movie. The girl was curled up against her side of the couch holding on a pillow for dear life and hiding her face from time to time.

"Do you want me to stop it?" Kendall asked nicely. He didn't want to scare the girl to death. Cadence shook her head no and just as she was about to say something she heard a loud noise coming from the TV and she jumped from her seat and almost threw herself at Kendall. "Cadence, we can stop-"

"Shut up! I wanna see what happens!" she said still holding onto the blonde. Kendall smiled to himself as he wrapped his arm around her. Once the movie was over Kendall noticed Cadence still didn't move.

"You ok?" he asked her snapping her out of her thoughts and she pulled away.

"Y-yeah, um, that was a great move" she said but Kendall notices she was shaking a little. "The book is better though" she said smiling as Kendall turned off the TV and they made their way upstairs. Just when they were about to go their separate ways Kendall heard Cadence voice. "K-Kendall?"

"Yeah?" he asked turning around.

"James and Logan told me why you got detention" she said in a small voice.

"What! I told them not to-"

"Why did you do it?" she asked curiously.

"I don't know" he told her. "After you left when we were talking outside, Jett came over to me and started saying stupid stuff about you" he said awkwardly.

"And you punched him?"

"I wasn't gonna let him disrespect you like that" he said getting all worked up. "I mean, the guy is just-" Kendall stopped talking when he felt Cadence's arms around his waist, just like she had done to James earlier that day. He turned down to look at her and saw her turning to face him. She smiled brightly up at him before she stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek.

"Thank you" she said smiling and not pulling away.

"For what?" Kendall asked a little confused.

"I don't think anyone's ever cared _that much_ about me" she said blushing a little and looking down. Kendall placed his finger under her chin and lifted her head up so she would look at him again. He leaned down and kissed her forehead.

"Anytime" he said smiling before they both said goodnight and went into their respective rooms.

* * *

**A/N: ****so, that was chapter 6! I didn't really like the ending but I just wanted to put a little Kendall/Cadence in it :) I'm already starting next chapter, the more reviews I get the faster I update :D pleaaaase let me know what you think! oh, and I'm sort of thinking about a new story but I'm not so sure about it but I may post it somewhere along the week also with the new chapter of Somebody That I Used To Know!**

**song: Girl on Fire - Alicia Keys**

**THANKS TO ALL MY AWESOME READERS! :D bye**


	7. Give Your Heart a Break

**A/N: hello! sorry it took me longer than I said it would.. but you know things get crazy from time to time haha but here it is :D chaper 7! hope you guys like it**

**Special thanks to: ICrzy, Barbra234, RandomWriter23 and a guest for your AWESOME reviews ;) you guys rock!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything :( **

* * *

"Kendall" Cadence whispered once she was inside his room. "Kendall" she whispered a little louder when she didn't get an answer. "Kendall" she said shaking him a little but all she got in response was his snores. She rolled her eyes, grabbed one of his pillows and (not so) gently threw it at his face. "Kendall!"

"Huh!" Kendall jumped waking up not really knowing what was happening.

"Oh, hey, you're awake" she said with an innocent smile sitting down on his bed.

"Cadence, what the hell? What are you doing here?" he said turning on his nightlight.

"Um, I saw your light was on-"

"My light wasn't on" he said confused rubbing his eyes with his hand.

"Well, I knew you were awake and-"

"You just woke me!" he said half upset, half confused.

"Fine, well you're awake now and I can't sleep, so I don't know I thought I could come in here so you could tell me a boring story and I could fall asleep" she said as if it wasn't a big deal. Kendall looked at her before throwing her a huge smirk.

"Oh my God" he said with a little chuckle. "Are you scared of the movie?"

"What? No, of course not!" she said letting out a chuckle and Kendall arched an eyebrow at her. "Please, as if some dumb movie would be scary enough to- ok, fine! I close my eyes and I see Jack Nicholson going... 'Here's Johnny!'" she said blushing a little bit.

"Cadence" Kendall said with his tone softening for the girl. "I asked you if you wanted to stop it" he said with a little chuckle.

"Yeah, but by then I really wanted to know what happened" she defended herself. Kendall let out another laugh and Cadence hit him with another pillow.

"Hey!"

"Is not funny!"

"I'm not making fun of you" he said honestly when he saw her blush a little more and noticed her eyes landed in a specific spot. He knitted his bushy eyebrows together confused when he saw a smile appear on her face.

"Is that you?" she asked and he turned around to see what she was looking at.

"Uh, um" he said quickly trying to reach for the picture on his nightstand but she beat him to it.

"Oh my God! Are those James, Carlos and Logan?" she asked holding the picture closer to her face. She turned to look back at Kendall, waiting for him to answer and noticed his cheeks were the ones that were red this time. "You guys look adorable" she told him. "How old were you?"

"Six" he said smiling a little.

"What are you supposed to be?" she asked looking at the picture again.

"We're superheroes!" Kendall said in an obvious tone. "James was _'Bandana Man'_, Carlos was _'El Hombre Del Flaming Space, Rock Man'_, Logan was _'The Surgeon' _and I was _'Slapshot!'_" he said posing as a superhero when he said his name. Cadence laughed a little at him before looking back at the picture.

"Well, you have the coolest name" she told him.

"I know!" Kendall said smirking. "Would you mind telling that to the guys tomorrow?"

"Seriously?" she said placing the picture back where she found it. Kendall just smiled at her.

"Come on" he said throwing the sheets off him and standing up.

"Where are we going?" Cadence asked confused but stood up anyways.

"Well, when I was younger and my dad would let me watch scary movies with him, he'd make me watch cartoons afterwards so I wouldn't be that scared" he explained to her, as they made their way downstairs and ended up in the kitchen.

"I thought we were gonna watch cartoons" she said confused.

"We are" he said getting the milk out of the refrigerator and two mugs. "We're also having hot chocolate" he said with a smile.

"We are?"

"Yeah, my dad would always give me hot chocolate when I couldn't sleep" he said mixing everything and putting the two mugs in the microwave before he started it.

"That's nice" Cadence said with a sad smile. Kendall turned around to look at her and noticed she was staring at the doorframe of the kitchen. "It must be nice to have those kinds of memories" she said sadly placing her hand on the doorframe and tracing her fingertips on the marks of Kendall's height through the years. Katie's was on the other side. She stopped at the mark that said six years and remembered the picture from upstairs. She laughed a little imaging it a little Kendall running around the kitchen in his superhero outfit with James, Carlos and Logan.

"You don't have those kinds of memories?" Kendall asked sadly as he prepared the hot chocolates.

"Not a lot anyways" Cadence muttered sadly as she stood up and sat on the kitchen counter, not really facing Kendall. "I guess the only ones are with my grandfather" she continued.

"The one that let you watch movies like Fracture?"

"Yeah" she said laughing a little. "He was awesome. He could talk like Donald Duck" she said smiling down. "And he built me a tree house… that was my favorite place in the world. I would always go there when I needed to be alone or just needed to think, or when I was upset. He taught me all I know about baseball" she told him. "He's the only person that's ever made me feel loved" she said quietly with her voice breaking a little bit. "He would've liked you" she said smiling up at Kendall.

Kendall smiled sadly at her and walked over to where she was sitting with the two mugs on his hands.

"He sounds pretty cool" he told her.

"He was" she said still smiling at him.

"Here" he said handing her one of the mugs.

"Thanks" she said smiling back at him. Kendall offered her his hand to help her down from the counter before they made their way to the living room. Kendall grabbed the remote while Cadence sat on the couch.

"You get to pick this time" he said smiling as he handed her the remote.

Cadence turned on the TV while Kendall placed his mug on the coffee table and looked for a blanket. He sat next to her before placing the blanket covering both of them and grabbed his mug again.

"Thanks" Cadence said quietly while she landed on something on the TV.

"Lilo & Stitch?" he asked with a little laugh.

"Shut up" she said sipping her mug. "It was the only decent thing, plus, the soundtrack is awesome" she told him. Kendall just smiled at her and watched the movie. Halfway through it, both of them had finished their chocolate and once again, Cadence was curled up against Kendall, not really knowing at what point they got that way, but not really caring either. She turned up to look at him. He looked pretty tired, but yet, he was still here trying to make her feel better for some reason. "Um, Kendall?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for this" she said pulling away a little, much to Kendall's dismay, and blushing a little and Kendall turned to look at her.

"Sure, I mean, it _was_ sort of my fault we watched that movie" he said laughing a little. "Plus, Lilo & Stitch is pretty cool… at least is not some princess shit" he said laughing and heard her let out a little laugh. He pulled her closer to him again when he felt she started drifting off a little.

"I always sort of felt identified with it" Cadence suddenly said with a small voice, while they heard Lilo talking to Stitch on TV.

"_What happened to yours? I hear you cry at night. Do you dream about them? I know that's why you wreck things…"_

"Lilo?" Kendall asked sadly, thinking she felt like the little girl on the screen without a family and that was left behind by everyone, but he wasn't really expecting her answer when he felt her shake her head.

"Stitch" she replied. "I mean, he's sort of _unlikable_ to many people and they just see him as destructive or temperamental, or just… evil" she continued still looking at the screen. "Is what he's programmed to do" she almost in a whisper. Kendall felt his heart breaking a little and he placed his mug on the table, and tightened his arm around her while the sleepy girl rested her head on his chest. "I don't mean to screw everything up, you know?" she whispered as they saw Stitch climbing out the window. "He doesn't either, but he still does… and afterwards, it just becomes easier to leave" she continued. Kendall kept on looking at the sad scene on the screen and the sad girl in his arms.

"_You can leave if you want. I'll remember you though. I remember everyone that leaves."_

"I guess I'm just hoping someone would care enough to ask me to stay" she said with her eyes closing.

She didn't really know why she was blurting all of this out to Kendall. She was just tired of holding it in. Plus, she knew Kendall would listen, and deep down, she hoped he wouldn't judge her. Kendall remained quiet and felt her relax against him before he felt her breathing slowing down. Kendall managed to grab the remote and turned off the TV. He left Cadence on the couch while he went into the kitchen and left the mugs on the sink. He then came back and picked up the sleeping girl in his arms. Only then did he realize how small the girl actually was. He made his way over to Cadence's room, realizing it was the first time he would go inside. He set the girl on her bed, trying not to wake her and put the covers on her. He noticed his Mighty Ducks jersey was lying next to her and smiled down at the sleeping girl. He placed some of her loose hair behind her ear and kissed her forehead.

"I'm not letting you go anywhere" he whispered to her before leaving the room and not noticing the little smile that formed in the girl's face.

* * *

"Cadence!" James ran over to the table where the girl was sitting and sat next to her. "Did you see this?"

"What?"

"THIS!" he said shoving the paper in front of her. "Mr. Rocqué is holding auditions for the talent show!"

"And I care because?"

"WE HAVE TO AUDITION!"

"For what?" Carlos said suddenly joining them at the table with Logan.

"For this!" James said showing them the poster.

"You should audition, Mr. Rocqué knows a lot of producers because he used to be a Pop sensation, they sometimes come looking for new talent" Logan told her.

"Isn't Mr. Rocqué the one that's always yelling? And calls you dogs?"

"Yeah, he sort of has a temper-"

"Who has a temper?" Kendall asked sitting with them. Cadence then realized the whole cafeteria was staring at their table as if they were crazy but she decided to ignore it. "I think my mom switched our lunchs" he told Cadence.

"Oh, right" she said getting something out of the bag. "I knew something was up when I got dinosaur-shaped chicken-"

"DINOSAUR-SHAPED CHICKEN!" Carlos said excited while taking the chicken out of her hand.

"AWESOME!" James said grabbing the bag and pulling out another one and before they knew it they were wrestling with the two pieces of chicken, making dinosaur sounds and everything.

"Your friends are weird" she told Kendall.

"They're your friends too" he said laughing.

"I think it was better when you guys hated each other" she said quietly.

"I gotta get new friends" Logan muttered under his breath.

"Anyways, getting back to the point" James said when he finally won the fight between him and Carlos, by ripping Carlos' dinosaur head off. "We should audition together!"

"Audition for what?" Kendall asked confused.

"THE TALENT SHOW!" James said frustrated as if he had explained a million times.

"You're auditioning?" Kendall asked Cadence.

"No" she said at the same time James yelled. "Yes!"

"Why not?" Kendall asked her.

"I don't wanna get up on a stage and being laughed at" she told him.

"I hate being laughed at" Logan said getting upset. "Like that one time in the third grade when those kids pantsed me in the cafeteria" he said trying to compose himself.

"WE SAID WE WERE SORRY!" Carlos, James and Kendall yelled at him at the same time. Cadence let out a little laugh.

"Why do you think people will laugh at you?" Carlos asked looking at Cadence.

"Um, why wouldn't they?"

"Because you're an amazing singer!" James tried to convince her.

"No, I'm not" Cadence said laughing a little.

"Yes, you are!" Kendall and Logan said at the same time and Cadence rolled her eyes.

"I'll think about it" she answered looking down at her food. "Um, I have to go" she said before standing up and walking out of the cafeteria.

She was on her way to her locker when she heard someone behind her.

"Cadence!" she stopped, turned around and was met by deep green eyes filled with concern.

"Where are you going?" Kendall asked her sadly, knowing exactly where she was going.

"Are you following me?"

"Yes! And don't change the subject. Where are you going?" he asked again.

"I don't know" she said frustrated and kept on walking. "Outside" she told him.

"Smoking?"

"Kendall-"

"Are you?"

"So what if I was?" she snapped turning around to face him when they reached her locker. Kendall noticed the hallway was pretty crowded to be lunch and people were starting to stare at them. He shrugged it off and looked back at Cadence.

"I know you only smoke when you're upset" he told her worried. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, I'm just tired" she said shrugging as if it was no big deal.

"Don't lie to me Cadence" Kendall said softly while Cadence opened her locker.

"I'm not lying I just-" Cadence stopped talking when she felt something sprayed all over her once her locker was unlocked.

She opened her eyes and dropped her books, letting out a loud scream terrified when she saw her locker. The insides of her locker were sprayed with something red, something that looked a lot like blood. The same thing that was now sprayed all over her. The inside of the door had all kinds of words like 'Bitch', 'Slut', 'Criminal', 'Murderer', 'Psycho' and 'Sociopath' all over it. And in the middle of it, there was a doll, that looked a lot like her, hanging with a knife stabbed to it. Kendall was paralyzed in front of the locker. It made him sick to his stomach. Cadence looked around and saw that everyone that was in the hallway was staring at her. She took a deep breath and grabbed the knife from her locker along with the doll stuck to it. She turned around and started walking towards the nearest dumpster while everyone stared silently at her. She noticed Camille by her locker with a sad and scared look on her face. She saw Jett and Dak at the end of the hallway with an amused look in their eyes. She got to the trashcan and dumped the doll on it. She looked around once again and found Jo, the Jennifers and a bunch of other girls not so far from her with a defiant expression on their faces. Cadence glared at them before she tossed the knife into the trashcan too and she silently started walking back to her locker, ignoring the fact that some students were laughing and some were even recording everything on their phones. Cadence slammed her locker door shut and grabbed her stuff before she started making her way outside. That's when Kendall snapped out of his trance and realized everything that had just happened and started running after her.

"Cadence!" he yelled running after the girl that was now out of the school.

"Leave me alone!" she said not bothering to look back.

"Cadence, please stop! I just wanna talk to you" Kendall pleaded.

Cadence stopped and turned to look up at Kendall again. Kendall saw her filled with that red stuff that was sprayed all over her. He felt his blood boiling and wanted to punch someone for what they had done to her. He could tell she was trying her best not to cry.

"Yes?" she said with a broken voice. Kendall sighted sadly and got closer to her, grabbing her hand.

"Come here, let's get you cleaned up" he said softly before kissing her head.

"I need a cigarette-" she started , trying to pull away but Kendall didn't let go of her hand. He turned around and saw her looking away.

"You don't need one" Kendall told her lifting her head so she would look at him. "You don't _need_ to smoke" he said softly.

"Kendall-"

"Just let me help you first, ok?" he was a little surprised when she didn't protest this time and she just nodded and followed him instead. Kendall was glad to see the hallway he entered was empty. He lead her to the boys' locker room first and walked over to his locker to get some clothes out. He held her hand again and walked over to the bathroom. "I'll wait out here ok?"

Cadence nodded trading the shirt out of his hands for her bag and she walked inside the bathroom. She came out a few minutes later with Kendall's t-shirt and her face clean. "Thank you" she said in a small voice.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Kendall asked worried.

Cadence shook her head and looked down. "I need to go outside" she said running a hand through her hair. Kendall could tell she was getting anxious.

"Cadence" Kendall said getting closer to her.

"Kendall!" Cadence said annoyed trying to get her bag back but Kendall pulled it out of her reach. "You're not gonna convince me to stop smoking! Even Reid tried saying 'six minutes' every time I light up one. I'm not gonna quit smoking" she told him.

"Why not?"

"I don't want to have another panic attack" she replied, looking down again.

"Cadence, look at me" Kendall said softly. Cadence slowly turned up to face him again. He cupped her cheek with his hand and brushed his thumb gently trying to calm her down. "You can talk to me" he told her. "I won't let you have another panic attack."

"Like I said, I'm just tired" she said looking down again. Kendall smiled sadly at her and wrapped his arms around her, kissing her head.

"Let's go get something to eat" he said softly.

"Why are you so nice to me?" Cadence asked looking up at him really confused.

"I've told you" Kendall answered, still smiling. "I care about you" he told her making her let out the tiniest smile. "Come on" he said grabbing her hand again and pulling her back towards the cafeteria.

They were walking through the hallway where Cadence's locker was when she noticed someone standing at her locker. She couldn't help but let her smile get wider witnessing the scene in front of her. Three boys were cleaning up the mess made in her locker. Three boys that she could actually call her friends. James, Logan and Carlos were all standing there cleaning the red stuff out of her locker. Cadence felt something in her heart as her and Kendall walked over to them. Kendall smiled at the girl next to him as they walked over to his friends. They turned around and looked sadly at Cadence.

"How did you guys-?"

"Camille told us" Logan said smiling sadly.

"Are you ok?" Carlos asked worried.

"I've been worse" she said with a little laugh.

"That's not what I asked" Carlos told her.

"Guys, come on, I'm fine" she said trying to smile. "It was just a stupid prank, it wasn't even very original if you ask me, they probably got it out from a TV show or something" she said with a little chuckle.

"What is this stuff?" James asked with a disgusted face as he kept on cleaning.

"Is supposed to be blood" Cadence said quietly.

"WHAT?!" Kendall, Carlos and James yelled at the same time.

"Relax, is fake blood" Cadence said rolling her eyes. "It smells like chocolate and syrup" she told them. The other three turned to look at Logan.

"Yeah, you add water and coloring and some other stuff and you made fake blood" he explained.

"You don't have to clean it guys" she said shyly.

"Cadence, we're your friends" James said smiling at her. "And friends help each other out."

"Yeah, we know how people in here can get, specially when they just pick a target to laugh at" Carlos added.

"I hate when people laugh at me. Like this one time on summer camp when this guys put a sign on my back that said 'Fart On Me'" Logan said getting upset.

"WE SAID WE WERE SORRY!" the three other guys answered at the same time making Cadence laugh again. Not only did she have friends, she had awesome friends.

* * *

"Um, James?" Cadence asked spotting James by his locker after the next classes.

"Yeah?"

"You have a free period right now, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, I do too and um, I think I want to audition to-"

"OH MY GOD!" James said wrapping his arms around her and carrying her spinning her around. "WE'RE AUDITIONING!"

"J-James, I c-can't breathe" she said trying to unglue herself from him.

"Right, sorry" James said putting her down again. "Ok, come on, LET'S GO!" he said grabbing her hand and dragging her to a room with lots of instruments in it.

"Has this always been here?" she asked confused.

"You hadn't noticed the music room? They always put all kinds of stuff like the Talent Show Flyer on the bulletin board-"

"There's a bulletin board?"

"Uh, ok, let's get started" James said laughing a little at the girl. "What do you wanna sing?"

"I don't know" she said quietly shrugging her shoulders.

"Ok, I guess I could look for some songs" he said getting his iPod out and going through the song. It was quiet for a while until Cadence talked again.

"Um, James?"

James stopped what he was doing and looked up at the girl sitting in front of him. She was now looking everywhere but James and he could see a hint of blush in her cheeks.

"Yes?"

The black-haired girl turned up to look at him and sighted. "Have you ever… fallen in love?"

"Five times a day" James said smirking and winking at her. Cadence rolled her eyes.

"James! I'm serious!" she said frustrated. James frowned confused before he answered.

"Well… to tell you the truth, no, not really" he said shaking his head. "I mean, I've gone out with probably every girl in this school and well, I love girls" he said smirking. "But I don't think I've ever been in love like Logan with Camille-"

"Wait, you know about that?"

"_Everyone _knows about that" James said rolling his eyes. "So, why do you ask?"

"Oh, um, no reason" she said avoiding looking at him.

"Yeah, like I'm gonna buy that" he said laughing a little bit. "Are you falling for someone?"

"No!" she answered a little too quickly but James kept the smirk on his face. "I don't know" she said blushing and looking down again. "I've never been in love either" she continued.

"Ow Cady, tell uncle Jamie the whole story" he mocked getting closer to her.

"Ok, first, don't call me that. And second, there's no story Prince Charming" she told him.

"Is it Kendall? Is Kendall isn't it? I knew it! I was right! I'm always right about this! Logan owes me $20 bucks!" he said excited until Cadence glared at him. "On a totally different bet" he said clearing his throat. "I'm right, right?"

"Shut up!" she said annoyed and getting up. "I knew I should've had this conversation with Logan-"

"Ok, ok, I'm sorry, come on! I'm done joking, ok?" he said in a serious tone. "You can talk to me" he said smiling at her. "Do you like Kendall?"

Cadence sighted sadly again. "I don't know… I guess" she said looking up at James. "Is stupid isn't it?" she said with a small chuckle.

"Cadence, love is never stupid" James told her getting serious.

"I never said it was love!" she said widening her eyes. "And it _is_ stupid" she continued.

"Why do you think that?"

"Why would Kendall like me?" she asked sadly looking at James.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"James! Just analyze the whole thing for a minute. Kendall is one of the most popular guys in school and he's smart and he's funny and he's like the best hockey player… after you" she added when James glared a little at her. "And he has like a whole future ahead of him and I… I just got out of jail" she finished.

"Ok, that's stupid! Kendall doesn't even care about that-"

"Is not just that! I don't have a family, I don't have a future, I don't… really have anything" she said sadly. James moved closer to Cadence and lifted her head.

"Cadence, that's not true, you have the Knights, and me, and Logan and Carlos" he told her with a smile. "If it wasn't for you, we probably never would've spoken to Logan and Carlos again" he told her. "And you're an amazing girl, you're smart and funny and hot as hell" he said getting a little laugh from her. "Kendall cares a lot about you Cadence" he told her and she just sighted. "Is that why you want to enter the Talent Show?"

"I don't know" she said shaking her head. "Logan said Mr. Rocqué knew a lot of producers and I thought… I don't know, this whole idea is stupid! Just forget I said anything ok-?"

"Cadence, calm down" James said stopping her. "I can help you" he said smiling. "I may not be a genius like Logan or fix everything like Kendall always does or have any awesome ideas when it comes to jokes and stunts like Carlos does, but if there's something I know, other than girls-"

"You know nothing about girls-"

"Is music" James said ignoring Cadence's comment. "If you really want my help, I'll make Mr. Rocqué's friends notice you" he said with a small smile. "Seriously, I've been singing since I was five" he finished. "Plus, you can totally sing to Kendall-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold up right there" Cadence said stopping the tall guy from finishing his sentence. "First of all, I don't sing stupid, bubble gum, girly love songs" she pointed out. "And second, if you say _anything_ about this to Kendall I will cut your tongue and then make you swallow it" she said in a threatening tone grabbing James by his shirt and scaring the hell out of him. Her eyes then turned sweet, as did her smile. "Got it?"

James nodded nervously. "Fine, I won't say anything to Kendall" he told her. "But you should give him a chance" he suggested and she sighted letting go of James.

"I can't" Cadence said looking down.

"Why not?"

"I'll break his heart" she said with a sad voice.

"Maybe he'll break yours-"

"_Nobody_ breaks my heart" she said glaring back at James. James could see her eyes were a little watered but it looked as if she was doing everything in her power not to let the tears roll out.

"I know what song we're singing" he said changing the subject. He grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the piano where they sat down. "I know you don't like girly songs or whatever so, I'll make it less bubble gum, ok?" he told her making her smile a little bit. When he started playing, Cadence knew which song it was, even if it sounded a little different from the original version. And then, James began to sing.

**[**_James is in Italics, _**Cadence is Bold**, **_Both is Bold and Italic_]**

_The day I first met you  
__You told me you'd never fall in love  
__But now that I get you  
__I know fear is what it really was_

Cadence had to admit, the song sounded beautiful on piano and James was very talented and had a really nice voice. She knew what he was doing. She just didn't understand why though. He was trying to make her feel better.

_Now here we are, so close  
__Yet so far, haven't I passed the test?  
__When will you realize  
__Baby, I'm not like the rest?_

Cadence smiled at James before she joined him singing.

_**Don't wanna break your heart  
****Wanna give your heart a break  
**_**_I know you're scared, it's wrong_  
**_Like you might make a mistake  
**There's just one life to live  
****And there's no time to wait**_ (**To waste**)  
_**So let me give your heart a break  
**_Give your heart a break  
_Let me give your heart a break  
_**Your heart a break, oh yeah, yeah**

James smiled at the girl sitting next to him once she started breaking out of her shell and started singing more so he let her take the next part.

**On Sunday, you went home alone**  
**There were tears in your eyes**  
**I called your cell phone, my love**  
**But you did not reply**

_**The world is ours if we want it  
**_**_We can take it_  
If you just take my hand**  
**There's no turning back now** (_No turning back_)  
_**Baby, try to understand**_

Cadence found herself smiling a little more. Maybe James was right. Maybe she needed to give her heart a break. That didn't mean she was terrified though. What if Kendall didn't like her back? Or what if he ended up breaking her heart, or if she ended up breaking his?

_Don't wanna break your heart  
**Wanna give your heart a break  
**_**_I know you're scared, it's wrong_  
Like you might make a mistake**  
_**There's just one life to live  
****And there's no time to wait **_(**To waste**)

_**So let me give your heart a break  
**_**Give your heart a break**  
_Let me give your heart a break  
_**Your heart a break**  
_There's just so much you can take  
_**Give your heart a break**  
_Let me give your heart a break  
_**Your heart a break**  
**Oh yeah, yeah**

**When your lips are on my lips**  
**_And our hearts beat as one_  
But you slip out of my finger tips**  
_**Every time you run**_

The pair was too much into the song to realize someone was standing at the door. A pair of green eyes were glaring over the two teenagers singing by the piano.

_Don't wanna break your heart  
__Wanna give your heart a break  
_**I know you're scared, it's wrong**  
_**Like you might make a mistake  
****There's just one life to live  
****And there's no time to waste **(To waste)_  
_**So let me give your heart a break**_

_'Cause you've been hurt before_ (**Give your heart a break**)  
_I can see it in your eyes_ (**Your heart a break**)  
_You try to smile it away_ (**Your heart a break**)  
_Some things you can't disguise_

Kendall stood there looking at Cadence smiling while she sang. He had been there since he heard James singing and he couldn't believe he got Cadence to sing. He felt his heart sunk a little for some reason. He couldn't stand there anymore, so he just turned around and left.

_**Don't wanna break your heart  
**Maybe I can ease the ache, the ache  
_**So let me give your heart a break  
****_Give your heart a break_  
**_Your heart a break  
_**Your heart a break**  
_There's just so much you can take,  
_**Give your heart a break**  
_**Let me give your heart a break, your heart a break  
****Oh yeah, yeah**_

When they finished the song Cadence rested her head on James' shoulder closing her eyes and smiling a little. "Thanks" she simply said.

James turned to look at her and smiled a little too. "No problem" he said kissing her head.

"Do you really think I should tell Kendall?"

"Is up to you, really" James answered her. "I do think that you guys would be good together" he told her smiling.

"I guess I'll think about it" she told him. "By the way, there's no way I'm singing that song" she said laughing and making him laugh too.

* * *

Cadence had thought about her talk with James earlier. She still wasn't sure if someone like Kendall would be with someone like her but well, it couldn't kill her, right? After the final bell rang, she spotted Kendall by his locker and walked over to him, ignoring the rest of the hallway still mocking her. Somehow nothing else would matter when she just focused on Kendall.

"Hi" she said smiling up at him. Kendall turned to look at her for like half a second before he went back to put his stuff on his locker.

"Hey" he said without any emotion in his voice.

"Um, James and I are auditioning" she told him, still smiling. He had to admit he was a little relieved when the word 'auditioning' came out of her mouth.

"Cool" he replied before closing his locker and started to walk away.

"Uh, would you like to come and watch?" she asked following him.

"I guess, I mean, I have to wait for you anyways" he said not really looking at her. Cadence felt a little disappointed by his tone.

"Uh, is something wrong?"

"No" Kendall turned to look at her for the first time. "Everything's fine. You and James are singing together" he said with a hint of jealousy in his voice.

"Uh, we're not singing together" she told him. "We each have to give a performance" she said confused and sadden about his mood. "You don't have to stay if you don't want to maybe James could give me a ride-"

"Yeah, wouldn't that just be perfect?" Kendall asked sarcastically.

"Ok, what is your problem?" Cadence asked now getting upset.

"Nothing! There's no problem because _James_ can obviously fix everything!"

The hallway was pretty much empty by now, but Cadence noticed Logan and Carlos turned to look at them when Kendall snapped at her.

"Kendall, what the hell are you talking about?"

"James is fucking Prince Charming, isn't he? He's always the one that gets the girl, he has to get _every single_ girl!" he started pretty much yelling upset. "No matter how hard I try helping you, trying to get you to stop smoking, or getting you cleaned after that stupid fake blood thing, or whenever you can't sleep or have a panic attack, James comes in singing one stupid song, and saves the day!"

"Kendall, you have no idea what you're saying" Cadence tried to calm him down, but apparently it just made him get madder.

"OF COURSE I DON'T! Because apparently, you only talk to James, or Carlos, or Logan!"

"What? Kendall I-"

"You what? You wanna go out and smoke? Or go talk to Logan or Carlos? Oh, I know, why don't you go sing another song with James-"

"Are you listening to yourself right now?" Cadence snapped at him.

"Didn't you sing with James?"

"Yes! I did but he was just helping me with something-"

"Really? With what?"

"Huh?" she said taken aback.

"What was he helping you with?"

"Uh, um, I uh" she said freaking out. "It was nothing."

"Why are you lying to me?"

"I'm not lying, I just- um I was nervous about something" she told him.

"About what?"

"A-about talking to you about something" she said feeling her knees starting to shake. "I know it may sound stupid but I just thought maybe you would um like to uh, do something for me?" she said blushing furiously.

"Seriously? Why? So after I'm done doing something nice for you, you go off to James again? Why would I do any more nice stuff for you when you don't do anything nice for me?"

"I just thought-"

"What? Did you really think that I would ever care about someone like you?" the words came out of Kendall's mouth before he could stop them. He saw in her eyes how he broke her. He saw her eyes filled with hurt before she answered.

"No" she said barely audible before she turned around and walked away from him.

"Dude, what the hell?" Logan said walking over to Kendall with Carlos.

"I'm an idiot" Kendall muttered to himself before punching a locker.

"Yeah, you are" Carlos told him. "Why would you say that? And what the hell was all that rant about her and James?"

"I saw her earlier singing with James" he said sighting, knowing there was no way to avoid this conversation.

"And?" Logan asked.

"What do you mean 'and'? She obviously likes James" he said upset.

"Seriously?" Logan said rolling his eyes.

"Dude, and you call me stupid?" Carlos said laughing.

"What are you talking about?" Kendall asked confused.

"Dude, Cadence likes you" Carlos said in an obvious tone.

"Yeah, I owe James $20 bucks" Logan said a little upset. "On a totally different bet" he added when the other two just stood there looking at him.

"You guys are nuts" Kendall said shaking his head.

"Dude, is obvious she likes you and you like her back" Logan told him.

"And you were just a jerk to her! You need to apologize to her" Carlos added.

"Why are you so sure that she likes me?"

"Uh the way she looks at you" Logan said in an obvious tone.

"She loves to give you a hard time" Carlos added.

"She stopped having a panic attack when you got to her" Logan continued.

"Oh and James told us about the night of his party-"

"Nothing happened!" Kendall defended himself.

"We know, but she was wearing your clothes" Logan told him.

"Plus, she hasn't date James" Carlos finished and the other two turned around confused.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Kendall asked him.

"Please, James dates _every_ girl in this school, unless he knows the girl likes one of us three" he explained. "And he always knows that stuff."

"That actually makes sense" Logan said.

"No, it doesn't! Cadence doesn't like me! She was singing with James!"

"Dude, seriously? That's all you're basing this on?" Logan asked him.

"It was a love song" Kendall added.

"Maybe it was for you" Carlos suggested.

"What?"

"Well, there's only one way to find out. We're gonna go watch her perform" Logan said grabbing Kendall by his arm and walking over to the auditorium.

"No! I mean, I don't think she's gonna want me there" Kendall said a little nervous.

"Too bad, we're going" Carlos said grabbing his other arm and dragging him along too.

The three friends entered the auditorium where they saw a bunch of people sitting in the crowd. They spotted James sitting at the front row with Cadence next to him. They made their way to them, dragging Kendall along and sat next to them. Cadence was simply looking down, not really facing anyone.

"Hey Logan" they all turned around to see Camille smiling at them. "Are you auditioning?"

"Oh, n-no" Logan said getting nervous. "James and Cadence are auditioning" he told her. "Are you auditioning?"

"Yes! I didn't know you guys were too" she said smiling at James and Cadence.

"Ok people! We are gonna make this quick because honestly I have better things to do than be here" Mr. Rocqué said walking in with Miss Wainwright and sitting down at their table.

"Good luck everyone" Miss Wainwright said smiling kindly at them. They started calling the students in alphabetical order. When it was James' turn he walked up to the stage and sang a slower version of Maroon's 5 'Love Somebody'. The students kept on going until it was time for…

"Ok, Cadence Thomsen" Gustavo read and Cadence felt her stomach doing flips. She took a deep breath and turned to look at James, terrified. He smiled softly at her and whispered in her ear.

"Go kick some ass" he said before giving her a small hug. Cadence stood up and walked over to the stage. She saw Mr. Rocqué looking at her with Miss Wainwright sitting next to him smiling at the nervous girl. She saw Camille sitting with some other girls and then on the other side, she saw the Jennifers.

"What is she singing, Cell Block Tango?" she heard one of the Jennifers say while the other two Jennifers laughed. Cadence saw two girls a little further from them glaring at the trio and she also noticed her four friends glared at the girls too.

Cadence ignored it and walked over to the band to tell them the song and stood in the middle again. She saw James smiling at her along with Logan and Carlos smiled too with his two thumbs up wishing her luck. Kendall however was sitting next to Carlos just looking at her with a small smile. The song started and Cadence breathed deep before she began.

_There are worse things I could do  
__Than go with a boy or two  
__Even though the neighborhood  
__Thinks I'm trashy and no good  
__I suppose it could be true  
__But there are worse things I could do_

_I could flirt with all the guys  
__Smile at them and bat my eyes  
__Press against them when we dance  
__Make them think they stand a chance  
__Then refuse to see it through  
__That's a thing I'd never do_

_I could stay home every night  
__Wait around for Mr. Right  
__Take cold showers every day  
__And throw my life away  
__On a dream that won't come true_

_I could hurt someone like me  
__Out of spite or jealousy  
__I don't steal and I don't lie  
__But I can feel and I can cry  
__A fact I'll bet you never knew_

Cadence walked off the stage and stood right in front of Kendall. Kendall looked up at her with his green eyes and saw her big brown ones looking deeply into him filled with tears as she finished the song.

_But to cry in front of you  
__That's the worse thing I could do_

When she finished the song Cadence quickly wiped away a tear so no one would see it before she grabbed her bag and practically ran out of the auditorium. But Kendall noticed. And now, he felt like an even bigger jerk.

* * *

"I still don't get why she changed the song, I mean, don't get me wrong, she rocked but-"

"Why don't you ask Kendall?" Logan told James as they walked out of the auditorium when the auditions were over. The taller brunette simply turned to look at his blonde friend and waited for an answer.

"Well?"

"I don't know" Kendall said shrugging his shoulders.

"Kendall thought Cadence liked you because he saw you two singing earlier and now he's being a total bitch about it" Carlos told him when they reached the parking lot.

"WHAT?" James asked shocked and stepping in front of Kendall. "Dude! What did you do?"

"Why do you care?"

"What did you tell her?"

"Is none of your business!" Kendall snapped back at him.

"Dude, if you fucked this up-"

"Shut up James! You don't even know what you're talking about!"

"You're an idiot" James said angry before turning around, but Kendall pushed him.

"You're a jerk!"

"Oh yeah? Why am I a jerk?" James said smirking back at him instead of pushing him back. Kendall just looked at him with furious eyes. "Say it Kendall. Why am I a jerk?"

"Because…" Kendall started but muttered the last part.

"What was that?" Logan and Carlos asked at the same time.

Kendall sighted frustrated. "Forget it" he said rolling his eyes and trying to walk past James but he blocked him.

"No! Say it out loud Kendall! Why am I a jerk?"

"BECAUSE YOU KNOW I LIKE HER!" he finally yelled. "YOU KNOW I'M CRAZY ABOUT HER! YOU'VE ALWAYS KNOWN! YOU ARE ALWAYS RIGHT ABOUT THIS STUFF AND LOGAN OWES YOU $20 BUCKS!" he yelled frustrated. "On a totally different bet" he said calming down a little at the end.

Logan and Carlos stood there with their mouths dropped open but James just started laughing. "Dude, you're an idiot!"

"What?!" Kendall snapped getting upset again.

"Do you wanna know why I was singing that song with Cadence?" James asked. When Kendall didn't answer, he went on. "I sang that song with her because she was freaking out about how much she likes _you_ and there was no way you could like her back" he explained.

"Really?" Kendall said with his eyes full of hope.

"Uh guys-" Logan started.

"Ha! I told you that song was for you! I am so much smarter than you!" Carlos told Kendall.

"Guys!" Logan tried again.

"Of course it was about him! Cadence is crazy about him! She's just scared he won't like her and Kendall is so stupid he didn't even notice-"

"GUYS!" they all turned around to look at Logan this time. "_Where's_ Cadence?"

The four guys realized for the first time that the parking lot was empty. There were only three cars left, Kendall's, Carlos' and Logan's. And Cadence was nowhere to be seen.

"Shit!" Kendall said walking over to his car, panicking. "Oh my God! She hates me and she's running away!"

"Calm down! You don't know that. Maybe she went home" Logan suggested.

"Yeah, just call her" Carlos said.

"She doesn't have a phone" Kendall told them. "And if I call my house and she's not there my mom's gonna kill me!"

"I'll call" James simply said taking out his phone and dialing. "Hi Mrs. Knight" he said and waited for her to answer. "Um, I was wondering if Cadence was home?" he asked and the other three boys panicked when James smiled faded. "Oh, she hasn't come home?" Kendall started panicking. "Oh, no don't worry, just tell her I called, thanks Mrs. K" he said before hanging up. "Uh, she's not there."

"Really?" Kendall asked sarcastically.

"Ok, calm down!" Carlos said. "She couldn't go that far. She didn't leave that long ago. Think like her. Where would you think she'd go when she's upset?" The other three stood there shocked. "What? I can't be smart sometimes? My dad's a police officer!"

"He has a point" Logan told the other two.

"So, where would she go if she was upset?" Carlos asked Kendall.

"Her tree house back in Chicago?" Kendall said remembering their talk from their previous night.

"Ok, she wouldn't have the money to get to Chicago" Logan told them.

"No, but I don't know, she said that's where she went whenever she needed to think or be alone or something" Kendall told him.

"I know where she is" James said suddenly and the other three turned to look at him. "Oh, what? I can't be smart either?" he said offended.

The next thing Kendall knew, he was pulling over James' driveway with Logan and Carlos behind him. "Are you sure about this?"

"Trust me, ok?" James said as they both got out of the car. The four teenagers walked inside the big empty house and James headed straight to his room. When they were inside the room, James walked over to his window and smiled at what he saw. He walked back to Kendall and put a hand on his shoulders. "You're up" he told her pushing him towards the window. "Don't screw it up this time" he told him while the other two nodded. Kendall sighted, opened the window and saw Cadence sitting there smoking.

"Cadence?"

"Go away _Knight_" she said quickly wiping away her tears. There was no way she was gonna let him see her crying. Kendall felt his heart clenching when she called him Knight.

"Cadence, please listen to me" he said walking towards her. "I'm really sorry for what I said" he said with a sad voice. "That was the stupidest thing I've ever said-"

"Yeah, right" she said letting out a bitter laugh. "You're not the first person to say it and… you're not gonna be the last" she said looking down.

"What do you mean?" he asked confused and sad. "Cadence _I am_ sorry! I do care about you! A lot! Too much actually" he told her truthfully. She sighted sadly.

"You're not sorry, you really meant it. Everybody does. Everyone says they do but they're lying" she said with another tear rolling down her cheek. "You know for once, I wanted to prove them wrong. I wanted to prove myself wrong" she said putting out her cigarette and standing up to leave.

"Cadence, wait! You can't keep on doing this! You can't keep avoiding everything or just running away without telling me anything!" Kendall said turning her around so she wouldn't leave but she didn't look at him.

"I forgot, ok?" Cadence said wiping away another tear.

"Oh, you forgot?!" Kendall said getting upset again. "You forgot what?"

"I forgot my way home" she said sadly. Kendall knitted his eyebrows in confusion. "I wanted to get there, but I don't know how because I forgot what it was like to have a home!" she said raising her voice. "I forgot what it was like to have a family!" Cadence started yelling a little louder. "I've been on my own since I was about ten years old and I forgot what it felt like to have people care about you and make you breakfast and take you shopping! I forgot what it was like to have friends that actually liked me and would clean up my locker or would listen to me when I'm upset and that wanted to help me!" she said with tears rolling down her eyes.

"Cadence" Kendall whispered with a sad voice. He felt his heart aching and he could swear his eyes were watering a little.

"I forgot how to love" she said facing his green eyes with her big brown ones for the first time. "I don't know how to love anymore Kendall. I forgot how to feel happy until…" she stopped biting her lip and looking back down before she could go on.

"Until what?" Kendall asked.

Cadence took a deep breath and faced him again. "Until you" she said quietly. "I know is stupid because you're this amazing guy with a whole future ahead of you and I'm just some troubled girl with no family and no future. I know I'm all alone, is just that when I'm with you I don't feel alone-"

Cadence was suddenly cut of by Kendall crashing his lips on hers. She was surprised at first but he deepened the kiss placing his hands on her hips and she slowly wrapped hers around his neck. After a while they both broke apart gasping for air and Kendall rested his forehead against her.

"You're not alone Cadence" he whispered smiling at her before he leaned down to kiss her again.

* * *

**A/N: so there it is :) what did you guys think? there's finally some Kendall/Cadence and there's more to come :D also more from the guys of Criminal Minds and about Cadence's past I'll try to update as fast as I can!**

**songs: Give Your Heart a Break - Demi Lovato (I sort of pictured it like the Glee version though ;D) and There Are Worse Things I Could Do - Grease (one of my favorite movies)**

**I really hope you guys like it! and let me know what you think :) **


End file.
